Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle

This film is little more than an overblown remake of Costard's 1971 curio "Football As Never Before", with Zidane taking the place of George Best. It has a few arresting moments and is interesting on a technical and technological level, but it lacks the charm of the earlier film and the filmmakers are arrogant to presume that this kind of cinema can do justice to a great footballer. It will add nothing to the understanding of those who don't watch football regularly and will bitterly disappoint those who do. The presentation of football (and all sport) requires space, context and perspective, this glorified art installation has none of these essential ingredients.

I can understand why some people would find this film rubbish, but it really is a fantastic piece of cinema if you just give it a chance.

If what you were expecting was just a montage of Zidane's finest moment this is not what you are looking for. This show's Zidane warts and all - the genius, the aggression, the skill - everything that made him the finest player of our generation.

The title of the film is so apt - it really is a portrait of football's finest "artist" in recent times. It is a little self indulgent, but the cinematography is fantastic and the soundtrack (music and sound) is incredible.

If you have any appreciation for football, Zidane, or even just artistic cinema I'd thoroughly recommend this movie.

Just like every football fan, I have to say that Zinédine Zidane really was one of the best players of this and the last century. I would often watch a France game, purely because of Zidane and I wanted to see him do his magic. Even if the game wasn't very good and the team wasn't playing very well, Zidane would always show something special and amazing. His skill and touch was always amazing. Whenever he had the ball if was something special and you just knew something great could happen at any given moment. He doesn't look and move like a very technical player but he really was one of the most technical midfielder of the last few decades. He had a great and impressive but also very successful career, especially with his national team. Every world cup or European cup he participated in, he was one of the best players of the tournament and he won both the World- and European Cup with his country France. He played an important role in his country victories and eventual win of the tournaments, with his two goals in the 1998 finale against Brazil of course as his most memorable achievement. No way that a dumb head-but against Marco Materazzi in the 110th minute of the 2006 World Cup final against Italy, which also was his last game out of his career, should overshadow this great sportsman's career.

But as much as I adore Zidane as a player he really isn't a charismatic person or player to watch. His face doesn't ever show any emotions, which sorts of makes you wonder why the film-makers he was such a good subject for this cinematic movie-making approach. After about 30 minutes you've already had it with watching this movie. Most of the time he doesn't even run, he just walks and stands because obviously he isn't on the ball all of the time. After a while the approach of the movie becomes a real bore to watch.

It doesn't show anything of Zidane as a person and it also most certainly doesn't show anything of Zidane's qualities as a football player. Therefor what's the point of this 'documentary'? This movie only serves an artistic purpose. Although this also doesn't completely work out due to the subject Zidane. So it's a sort of vicious circle. The approach of the documentary doesn't really work out due to Zidane and Zidane isn't presented in his best or most insightful way due to the approach of the documentary. It doesn't do much credit to the exceptional great player Zidane was. On top of the, the approach from this documentary isn't even original. It was used before by German filmmaker Hellmuth Costard, for his documentary "Fußball wie noch nie", following Manchester United player George Best in real time, during a complete football match.

What was highly annoying to me was that most of the sounds were obviously put at a later stage underneath the movie. Some, if not all, sounds were obviously fabricated and recorded in a studio, even Zidane's own breathing and on pitch talking. Unless you believe he was really wearing a microphone during the match...The chanting the running on the grass, the kicking of the ball, all off these sounds sound so completely fabricated. It's like listening to a radio play at times.

Some of the trivial facts presented in this movie are really ridicules and don't serve a point at all, also not in the least because they have absolutely nothing to do with the subject of the movie.

If you want to see the qualities of a player you don't point several camera's just on his face. He should see a wider picture to get a clear view and understanding of his positioning, his passing, his control, his overview, knowing exactly the positions of your teammates and opponents, knowing when to give the right ball. After all, football is still a team sport, no matter how great as an individual you are. The game they follow him also isn't much special. It's just an average Primera Division game of Zidane's Real Madrid against Villareal, in which Zidane even gets send off with a red card before the end of the match. Also sorts of makes you wonder if the makers regret picking this one game to follow him.

Has some artistic value but overall really doesn't do enough credit to Zizou.

4/10

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I was not entirely sure what I was about to see when going to see Zidane, for a cinema release it had to be by far the strangest pitch (no pun intended) I'd come across. Zidane is a portrait of the infamous pro footballer Zinedine Zidane and using 17 cameras follows the great player throughout a 90 minute football match. As I am not a football fan in the slightest I decided to take my ex-footballer father along to get two perspectives on the film.

The film opens with recognisable grainy poorly sounding TV footage of the match kicking off, and after a while we are presented with lush high quality visuals and sounds of the very same match. What astounded me about this film is the clarity of sound and vision throughout the film and how technically impressive it was, from the slight breathing of Zidane to the odd over awing shots of the grand stadium. This is not just an in depth look at how a great player plays but also a fantastic experiment in recording and manipulating sound and vision. Thanks to this the film puts you right there on the pitch, and with the addition of subtitles that were taken from an interview with Zidane you start to understand what the player might be thinking.

The film is also laden with different messages take for instance at half time we are shown what was happening around the world on the same day, it's a great wake up call as it makes you realise how insignificant one man and his football match is, but because of press coverage and celebrity status that match is more memorable and more important to the public than lives lost in a natural disaster.

I adored the film for its technical brilliance and the messages it seemed to send, my father loved watching a great player play up close and personal. So whether you like football or not this film is sure to interest you.

I can see why people had the criticisms of this film.

Reading the title, I think most people expected a clips compilation of his best goals, assists etc. not a moving piece of cinema.

I think this was a brave and ultimately rewarding effort to examine the greatest footballer of our generation in a different way and to enable you to make up your own mind rather than a narrator explaining it for you.

Darius Khondji's cinematography was mind blowing and any of the shots of the film could have made an amazing photo in it's own right. The sound design was phenomenal and if you have fifty pro logic speakers in your sitting room then you will feel the full force of the Bernabeu and Zidane in a way that watching a football match on television never could.

The only thing I can finish with is to say this film must be watched. Mere words can't express the emotions that this film creates.

Zidane: A 21st Century Legend.