Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

vchimpanzee In this fact-based movie, a hundred years in the history of football are shown. If you are American as I am, the game is not football, but soccer. Regardless, it is simpler for me to refer to the game as football since that is the term used most of the time.In 1902, there is no organized football competition between countries. England has organized competition but will not play teams in other countries. Carl wants to change that. he goes to a football game where the man in charge is yelling at people who do things wrong. Talking to him might not be a good idea, but Carl does talk with another man.In another scene, a group of men are sitting at a table and FIFA is born.In 1924, Uruguay wins the Olympic medal in football. Jules Rimet shows up at a meeting to downplay their efforts because Uruguay did not in fact play everyone to get the title, and many of their players were not from there. Rimet soon becomes president of FIFA. And as part of Uruguay's centennial, a real world championship game is proposed, in a new stadium which will seat 100,000 in Montevideo. That game is played in 1930; we see what looks like actual footage along with headlines and footage of newspapers being printed. It's not a lot, but it does represent what happened. The so-called World Cup will be played every four years.Rimet's daughter Annette is talking to a man at an event. He says Africans can't play football; they're too stupid. Why, for Negroes to play football would be like women playing football! Annette wants to protest but Rimet doesn't defend his daughter. Annette later stands up to people who are arguing and shows she has a mind of her own.World War II and the events preceding it have a negative effect on competition. In fact, there is one game, which we see a few scenes from (made for the movie, because the film quality is better than in 1930), between Germany and Ukrainian prisoners. Germany will win ... or else. The referees have been paid off. Yet the Ukrainians are very determined ...After the war life is normal again. We go to a major stadium and there is lots of excitement. We see fans in several locations. Based on the credits and what is possible nowadays, I don't think there were real people in that stadium, or at least actors in this movie were superimposed on actual footage. The game looks like real footage because the film quality is inferior. The first goal is scored and everyone goes crazy. Even the announcer. I don't think he's THAT guy but he does yell, "GOOOOOOOOOAL!" As professional as the announcer is, he is very biased, showing no emotion as the other team scores. There is disappointment in the other locations. And when the game is over, it's like a disaster just happened. The movie's whole tone changes.We have watched Rimet age many years, and then we see his funeral. Annette does an admirable job with the eulogy.We fast forward a few more years as a new president of FIFA is elected. The losing candidate is convinced Africans can't play. The winner is a strong supporter of including African teams.Another game. More excitement. Again, film quality is inferior, so we must be seeing real footage. Someone named Pele appears to be the first superstar in the sport. By this time the movie is about half over, but it's not quite as exciting any more. We do see another game and plenty of excitement in the scenes associated with the game. Mostly, though, the rest of the movie is about controversy. FIFA is running out of money but one solution is to sell merchandise related to football. World events interfere as tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. make boycotts of the Olympics possible. FIFA must take a stand on Apartheid. Women's teams must be considered. And fans who can't behave themselves are a real problem.Then there are scandals for which a man who is not even president of FIFA is being blamed. Then he takes over as president and ... well, what WILL he do?The movie ends about a hundred years after it started, and football has become very popular. We see kids playing, even girls. I won't call it an Oscar-winning effort but at least the first half is very good for what it is. Sure, it skips over a lot of years, but apparently the most important details are included. And that one game in the 50s shows a wide range of emotion, and really communicates passion for the sport. The leading actors are shown in the credits but I have to say I didn't recognize any of them. That makes the movie work better because I am seeing the characters, not the actors. I think most of them did a good enough job.Gerard Depardieu does a good job but I wouldn't exactly say he shows the talent to win an Oscar. Other than that, no one really stood out, and while we are shown a lot of information after Rimet's tenure, there is educational value (I suppose) but not that much entertainment value.

LouieInLove ....ItThis film is a metaphor for everything wrong with FIFA. It's the equivalent of 'The Tales Of King's Landing' brought to you by Joffrey. It's so awful for so many reasons. At least we know Tim Roth & Sam Neil have no morals & will grab for the coin no matter what."Hay! Tim! Sam! It's 1937, fancy being in this German propaganda film?.....It pays well." Look! I'm Scottish, so like most of the world I was raised on football. I love the game & like the majority of football fans I'm club (Hibs) before country. However, FIFA is the world governing body so we're all under its wing & to be fair, in terms of the actual game itself, in my opinion, they've done an OK job & not fiddled with the logistics too much. Nevertheless their off-field antics are notoriously corrupt & if someone made an honest film depicting the organisation, that would actually be fascinating as opposed to this leaking bucket of visual sugared-puss.

jwworthy This film is irrefutable proof that being a wealthy business executive with billions of dollars does not solve your personal problems but rather excessively amplifies them. Due to their obsessive need for control and outrageous arrogance, the men in the upper echelons of FIFA clearly trampled over every crew member's sensible input to save the film from being anything but the laughable piece of propaganda that it was, blatantly attempting to excuse FIFA from taking any responsibility for its unlawful actions so its billionaires can continue stealing money.But the film went above and beyond the typical aspects of propaganda with its overbearing self-importance, acting as if FIFA single-handedly saved the human race from extinction and is thus the hero of humanity that deserves endless praise and glory. It was like a cry for help masquerading as a shiny medal of honor; a film functioning as a massive ego-boost first and propaganda second. The film crystallizes the fact that FIFA's upper management is full of severely insecure businessmen whose low self-images manifest into a compensatory imaginary world of their own self-aggrandizing and self-indulgent delusions of grandeur, which they sadly mistake for reality.United Passions is a model for how the vast majority of men in power are completely out of touch with the real world, explaining why the world is in the gutter, littered with corruption, violence and greed. One thing everyone should take away from this film is that money doesn't buy happiness and it, in fact, destroys it; and that FIFA sucks.

Ken McElhaney There is very little to say about "United Passions" that has not been covered in other reviews. However, the biggest crime committed other than the celebration of FIFA as this above-board, honest organization thanks to Sepp Blatter (not), is that the film itself is dreadfully boring.Essentially, United Passions starts with the beginnings of FIFA as they must contend with racist English people (their view, not mine) in the 1920s and works its way through the decades until the end when South Africa is awarded the 2010 World Cup, something we now know to be fixed.Virtually every scene that is not stock footage of the World Cup games is a meeting between executives. While there might be some that find well dressed people muttering in low tones for two hours to be riveting, I was not so moved.Furthermore, the film makes being a FIFA president appear to be the most boring, most uninteresting job on the planet and even the fancy locations like Rio for example cannot crack a smile for anyone. Sam Neill and Tim Roth who carry most of the picture seem half-unconscious throughout.Even the framing device of kids playing a soccer game is dull, despite the only girl on either team (playing the goalie) who apparently cannot block a shot, suddenly takes the ball down the pitch like Pele and nails a 20 foot shot. She is carried off the pitch by players from BOTH teams and yet even that was boring.Even as a propaganda device, this is a horrible film. It's little wonder that it made less than $1,000 on its opening weekend in the US, a figure that is virtually impossible to obtain, yet it is somehow fitting for both FIFA and this film.