(EUFF) Film Review #63: CAMPEONES [Closing Film on 31 May 2023]
European Film Festival 2023
Film Review #63 [Spain]: Campeones
*This film review may contain plot spoilers, reader discretion is advised.*
Get your tickets to CAMPEONES now: https://www.euff.com.sg/film/spain/champions-campeones
The film that inspired the 2023 remake starring Woody Harrelson, Spain’s 2018 film
Champions
is the classic feel-good comedy that invites members of any demographic to enjoy. For a while now, problematic representations led to comedy made at the expense of people with disabilities. Yet, in the subversive comedy of this film, the joke is on the same group, but simultaneously also on the ‘normal’ human beings. After all, as one of the characters remark: “There’ll always be inequality, but we’re teaching him to handle it,” him being the prejudiced basketball coach tasked to guide a team of players with disabilities through the national championships.
After losing his job as an assistant coach in a basketball team, Marco Montes is given two ‘choices’: two years in prison or ninety days of community service. As expected, he makes the latter choice and is tasked to help Los Amigos, a team of basketball players with disabilities to win their basketball championships after their previous coach’s departure led to their disqualification. Here is where the plot introduces two juxtaposed camps: subnormales (below normal) and normales (normal).
Where one would expect tear-jerking or sappy portrayals of what might be presumed a sensitive topic of representation, the film makes no attempt to broach its representation in an overly-delicate manner. Jokes are made at everyone’s expense: whether you’re ‘normal’ or ‘below normal’. Laughter is equally encouraged both as Montes struggles to make his name through scenes of him correcting others on its pronunciation, and as a short Collantes, who has Down Syndrome, makes use of her height advantage to kick her larger opponents in their nether areas.
It is this treatment of comedy that might render a sensitive audience uncomfortable at first when jokes are made at the expense of those who might look different from us. Yet, it is the persistence of this style throughout the film that ultimately challenges an audience member to recognise that such discomfort in the face of comedy points to areas of prejudices and biases within us too. After all, if we truly treat the line between subnormales and normales as unnecessary, why then do we feel better laughing at the expense of the 'normals' instead of the 'subnormals'?
Given how most of the film’s laughs are evoked through slapstick, physical comedy, and running gags, the film does not try to be anything loftier or serious. Even if scenes are populated with dramatic music hinging on over-sentimentality, the film’s comedy reminds us that at the end of the day, all we need is a good laugh. Thus, the emotional openness one takes when watching this film is perhaps the same openness the film encourages us to take when encountering one who does not look like us. As the film’s conclusion demonstrates, just as the line between winner and runner-up is arbitrary, so too are any other lines dividing us into neat categories.
About the Author: Daryl is fascinated by stories and currently serves as the Festival Director of the Perspectives Film Festival and a programmer at the Singapore International Film Festival and Short Circuit 7. He is an undergraduate at Nanyang Technological University.
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This review was written as part of a series of reviews by SFS writers for European Film Festival 2023.
For more films and info on EUFF 2023, visit the official website: https://www.euff.com.sg/
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About European Film Festival 2023:
The European Film Festival (EUFF) is an annual event that showcases a curated selection of European films. The films showcased in this festival may belong to a specific country, but they are all representative of Europe’s shared cultural heritage. EUFF is a window into the intriguing world of European cinema and also offers a platform to young Singaporean film-makers.
Get your tickets to CAMPEONES now:
https://www.euff.com.sg/film/spain/champions-campeones
About the Movie:
GENRE: Comedy | Drama | (Closing session at Projector X: Picturehouse, Dhoby Ghaut)
DIRECTOR: Javier Fesser
CAST: Javier Gutiérrez, Athenea Mata, Juan Margallo, José de Luna, Sergio Olmo, Jesús Vidal, Gloria Ramos, Alberto Nieto Fernández
NC16 (Coarse Language) | 2018 | Spanish w/ English subtitles | 124 minutes | Preceded by Almost Home
Synopsis:
This compelling Spanish film tells the story of a professional basketball coach who is sentenced to community service and must coach a basketball team made up of people with intellectual disabilities. As the coach interacts with the players, he learns to respect their limitations and discover their strengths. Together, the team overcomes social barriers and manages to triumph in the Spanish adapted basketball championship. Campeones addresses issues of human rights, social inclusion, self-improvement and shows us the importance of teamwork.
HONOURS:
3 Goya Awards (2019) & 1 Feroz Award (2019)
This review was written as part of a series of reviews by SFS writers for European Film Festival 2023.
For more films and info on EUFF 2023, visit the official website:
https://www.euff.com.sg/
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