Synopsis
World War II starts and a family is separated when a father goes off to fight. Young Mattias is a soccer lover, and during the war, he finds a surrogate father in his hero and national team member Helmut, eventually selected to play in the World Cup. When Father returns 12 years later, son Mattias doesn’t understand what’s happened to him. He has lost his passion for soccer, is quick to lose his temper, becomes violent, and causes trouble with other family members. He fights with his wife and drags home Mattias’ sister, caught dancing with an American soldier. He gets into a fight with Mattias’ older brother, calling him a Nazi and driving him to East Germany. While Mattias and his family try to deal with the father, reporter Paul Ackerman and his new wife forego their honeymoon so that he can report on the 1954 World Cup. Their story, that of Mattias and the saga of the West German team that challenges the mighty Hungarian team intertwine through soccer in this film. Through soccer, the son and the wife come to understand the father, while the West German team beats Hungary 3-2 in the final. The moment the telecaster yells, “GOAL~”, all of the people in Germany sitting in front of the TV and by the radio become one as a nation. That voice unifies a torn country, if only for a second and heals the wounds inflicted by the unforgivable father. Released in 2003, the film garnered over 3 million viewers and is the biggest hit in Germany of the last 10 years.(LEE Byung-hee)