TV review: Captains of the World is addictive, even if it's a varnished view of things
Thanks to the camera angles, we’re standing right behind Messi when he does what he does and makes football look like the easiest game in the world. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.
According to a report in The Guardian, 6,500 migrant workers died in Qatar between the time it was announced as host of the 2022 World Cup and early 2021. This doesn’t feature in on Netflix. We get the varnished view of the tournament through the eyes of the captains, Messi, Ronaldo and more. And it’s addictive.
So addictive that my whole family is watching, including my wife whose appreciation of soccer is so thin she can’t understand why I prefer Manchester United to her. (Messing! Hi honey.)
We’re drawn in by the drama. Ireland has lost the knack of qualifying for major tournaments, so a lot of people have never experienced the build-up, tension, hope, euphoria and tears, because these things end in tears for most people.
The key to Captains of the World is how it will end up for captains Messi (Argentina) and Ronaldo (Portugal). The drama is immediate when Argentina suffer a shock loss in their first match to Saudi Arabia. I don’t tell my kids that Messi is paid a lot of money to act as an ambassador for the Saudi tourist authority, because they’re not into irony or the dangers of too much money.
They are into the way Messi can roll a ball into the corner of the net. There is a good bit of that here as he jolts is team back into life in the aftermath of the Saudi defeat. Thanks to the camera angles, we’re standing right behind him when he does what he does and makes football look like the easiest game in the world.
It’s sumptuous viewing, along with aerial shots of the new stadia and gleaming cities by the sea. The only bit of politics they allow in is when the Iranian team refuse to sing their national anthem after a female activist dies in custody back at home. We’re shown footage of protesters (mainly women) in Iran followed by the captain of Iran saying he is on the side of people oppressed at home. It’s brave all round, except from the programme makers really, because the Iranian regime are acceptable bad guys. But it does deliver the delicious moment at a press conference when a cranky Iranian journalist tells U.S.A captain Tyler Adams that his home country isn’t pronounced Eye-Ran.
Captains of the World works because they do a brilliant job of injecting drama into a story which has no surprise at the end. That’s because the World Cup isn’t about the winners, it’s about those who take part. Even when it takes part in a country that doesn’t seem to value some human life.
