Truffa per la vittoria

The paralympic games do not attract a large audience when they are broadcast and it is certainly unfair ;based on real facts -but it happened to a Spanish team-, this film shows respect for mentally retarded people and there're no bad jokes about them.

The results do not fulfill all hopes though ;Of course,you can't do wrong with Darroussin :he is such a gifted actor than even when the scenes are clumsy,he manages to save something from the wreckage ;to my eyes ,the best scene does not concern the paralympic games : his own daughter is mentally retarded ,which probably explains why he devotes his life to train handicapped people ; when he's told that his girls' drawings are "not bad for a her ", we deeply feel his fit of anger .Unlike the others, money does not mean much to him ,but a gold medal would make his daughter's day.

A team with only two true mentally retarded players ;the others are "normal";best support comes from the former ; the fakes do not even try to sound " weak IQ", they speak English (!)and most of their conversations deal with girls (there's the obligatory sex scene); when in Sydney ,there's too much filler ,and the movie only works when Darroussin intervenes ,sadly unsupported by his psychologist (the meeting with the fake players is the only one when they can really pass for mentally retarded guys;afterward she takes naiveté to new limits before realizing ,just before the finale ,that she's been fooled .)A turgid finale enhanced by Pachelbel-inspired "run and tears"

Given the potential of the subjects ,it is a missed opportunity and ,but I tip my hat to Darroussin and the two "real" team-mates .