CineTV Contest: Escape to Victory || If only countries could settle disputes on the football pitch.

If only countries could settle disputes on the football pitch.

This quote from the film is actually enough to summarise the whole story. In my high school years, I rented a film made before I was born with a few friends, paying for it jointly, and watched it on a DVD player. Before watching it, the only thing we learned about the film was that the world-famous footballer Pele was in the film. Pele was our hero in the matches we played among ourselves in childhood.

To be like Pele... To kick the ball like Pele... To tackle like Pele...

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This week's theme of the contest, which is held regularly in the CineTV Community by @Cinetv with the sponsorship of @ecency, is Your Favourite Sports Movie!

I am participating in the competition with the film Escape to Victory, made in 1981 and directed by John Huston. I have watched many films and biographies on sports themes until today. Most of them are like documentaries and tell the career of the athlete they are about or the stages before his career, but the film Escape to Victory is about the world cup-winning football players who are captured in a camp where they go back and forth between life and death every day. Moreover, the film uses world cup winning football stars such as Pele, Boby Moore and Osvaldo Ardiles. Next to the football stars, he puts cinema stars and star candidates such as Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine and Max von Sydow.

I'm sure it would cost millions of dollars to assemble such a cast today. Escape to Victory is not a documentary film. It is not a biography film about the careers of football players who won the World Cup. It is about the second world war that ravaged Europe and allows us to focus on a propaganda match through the elite footballers who were among the prisoners of war after the war dragged everyone, regardless of profession, to the front. The team formed by the prisoners is organised to play the German national team in Paris. The match, which is called a friendly match, is propaganda for one side and an opportunity to escape for the other.

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Even though I watched the film with my friends in high school for Pele, my opinion changed as I watched the film. There was no change in Pele's place, but there were other footballer-turned-players I put on his side. I would like to give the biggest praise to the producers who managed to bring the cast together in the film, which I liked very much from the script to the director and the shooting.

Nowadays, when Ronaldo and Messi are making million-dollar deals for a few seconds of advertising, it can be sleep-inducing to think about the figures they might ask for such a film. Lol

While watching the match between the Allied prisoners and the German national team, it was a disappointment when Pele, who was injured in the first half, left the game. However, we had rented a DVD with our pocket money in order to watch Pele. Since we were still curious about the flow of the film, we immersed ourselves in the film, but when Pele came out of the game, it was almost like the film was over for us. When Pele said "we have to stay and play, we have to complete the match" during the half-time break, we realised that he was going to play in the second half.

A scene from the film

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Although the film Escape to Victory is about the struggle of a team of prisoners against the German national team, it also reflects the drama of the Second World War and what was done in prison camps.

In the second half, when the Allies scored the equalising goal, we rejoiced and hugged each other as if the team we were supporting had scored in an important match. The cheering in the Paris stadium when the score was an incredible 4 - 4 was chilling.

The referee's final whistle was the beginning of the escape. When 50,000 people jumped onto the pitch, took the Allied footballers between them and ran them out of the stadium, it was like the closing act of a perfectly organised film.

The match between the Allied prisoners and the German national team is exhilarating to watch, but the escape scene after the match is moving.

I fully agree with this sentence, which I quoted from @cinetv's article announcing the results of the contest and the new theme.

Sports and movies, a combination of pastimes that I would guess span across all cultures.

We took the DVD back immediately after watching the film because the sooner we took it back, the more it would be deducted from the rental fee. Lol

Despite the weeks that have passed, Pele's goal has never left our tongues. We constantly competed with ourselves to score a goal similar to the one he scored. It is good that he played in the film Escape to Victory and left unforgettable memories behind.

Just take a few seconds to look at the beauty of that goal in the film!

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Lastly, I watched the film Escape to Victory again tonight, which I watched in my high school days, so that I could remember it again. I had the opportunity to watch the film I watched for Pele at the time I told you about from a wider angle tonight. Moreover, I didn't have to pay a rental fee for the DVD because I watched it on the internet. Lol

I have to say that Sylvester Stallone's goalkeeping was awful, even though he saved a penalty. I laughed out loud when, minutes before kick-off, he asked his coach where he should stand on a corner kick. I was so focused on Pele on my first viewing that I missed such a funny dialogue.

I'm not criticising today's films, but watching old films again gives me great feelings.

Be sure to take part in this competition because it leaves behind wonderful memories. And you get to see a lot of great films without losing anything. If your time is valuable and you like watching films, be sure to participate!

Because you don't lose time, but you gain time.

CineTV Contest #22 - Favorite Sports Movie

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See you in my next article, all content belongs to me. @cute-cactus

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