L'Arbitre

Rettskiparen is an unusual sport documentary because it deals with the personal aspects of being a football referee on top level. Normally sport documentaries are not so keen on what is going on beneath the surface and focuses on the matches and the goals or the conflicts within the team or between players. Instead Rettskiparen deals with the personal sacrifice that Martin Hansson has to go through in order to be a referee. It works very well and is an interesting story from the beginning to end. I would not mind a one hour documentary but the character himself is maybe not interesting enough for that length, who knows? Overall a truly recommended film about a very lonely and idealistic man.

The life of a soccer referee is far, far away from that of the all-too-famous stars of the sport despite the fact that the referees are in the middle of it all. Mr. Hansson who stars in this documentary seems to involuntarily end up in the center of attention on a frequent basis. Whether his mistakes or need-to-be-seen is the driving force behind this is left to the viewer to make out. However one thing is certain about this film, the sport of soccer has lost its track of a game. On top level it has become something far more sophisticated and cynical. Money and politics seem to play far too much a part in this "sport" and the referees are just the tools for great Mafia-style associations like FIFA and UEFA. At the bottom of all this there is the referee, his family, relatives, friends and neighbors. They are all in one way or the other affected by what is going on but no one really seems to care. A truly insightful documentary to the topic of soccer refereeing. Beside the skillful portrait the dramaturgy plays an important and instrumental part in this film. Truly recommended.

In this movie there is a journalist that mention the fact you must be able to critic the football referee when he makes a bad decision. I think in that statement lies the strength of this film because the referee also believe he should not go to the world cup if he makes a mistake. Which he does. A big one. The filmmakers meet him in very personal situations and also his family and despite the problems he has to survive he still believe that this is what he should do instead of being with his family. I fee after watching this film that referees are just like players and compete just like players. Before I saw the film I did not know that the competition was as strong between the referees. I am very happy to have seen this film and I look forward to more films that look a little deeper inside football and all the controversies around the game.

From a female perspective I must admit that I was shocked at some of the things that were said in this movie regarding the choices and motivations in the main character. I understand that soccer is very important to a lot of people around the world but it can never be everything for a father and a husband. For the sport part I have very little to add as my knowledge is somewhat limited but for human aspects of life I do feel the documentary communicates a great insight to what obsession and instinct feels like. However I do feel the film could have been a bit longer as there are parts missing. Nevertheless a truly recommended documentary for us who know little about soccer.

I believe this film shows all the dirty side of football. As a person from France I feel ashamed to acknowledge the fact that we passed to the World Cup based on cheating that Mr. Hannson could not see. I feel this film shows the problem of being a referee in a nice way and that Thierry Henry should not only apologize to the Irish people but also to Mr Hannson directly. The film is a very nice story about the life behind the "stage" and I will recommend it to people in France who feel very sad about the situation last November. Beautiful portrait of a person in the middle of all the problem and stress that football on this level create..