Goal! Fantastic movie!

Watched it with June on Sunday evening. This has to be one of the most delectable movies of the year. Power-packed, passion-filled and poignantly real, the film traces the life of a Mexican young man with an inextinguishable love for football, introducing him first as a Sunday-league soccer hobbyist cum second-class luckless American laborer dwelling in L.A. with his cynical dad. It then proceeds to unravel his astounding rise to the first-team of England's Newcastle United Football Club through a chain of sheer blessings.

Starring Kuno Becker as our young hero Santiago Munez, the movie embodies several noteworthy themes. Santiago's unwavering pursuit of one's DREAMS was the focal theme. I was moved by his pious belief in his own talent and potential to succeed in professional football, his commendable courage in burying his burdens and dad's skepticism about his ambitions, and distinctively his bravado in travelling across half the globe to England when the realization of his lofty aspirations was merely a 70/30 gamble - 30 in favor of him. In ways more than one, we are allowed to identify with young Santiago. Many of us had our fair share of dreams (not the sleeping types :-P) in our childhood and adolescent days. However, not that many of us have the desire and determination to transform our dreams into realities. Why so? This is because there is an intrinsic gulf between dreams and realities. Often, people hinder us in our attempts to bridge that gulf, akin to the antics of Santiago's dad in quelling his son's footballing passion. Circumstances stand in our way too, because we humans get discouraged and disillusioned when we discover that we are no longer in the driving seat. Nevertheless, Santiago illustrated the prowess of maintaining our self-belief in attaining our dreams.

The movie also emphasized the essence of TEAMWORK. Santiago was extremely gifted in ball control. He could dribble the ball across the length of the field effortlessly, turn opponents cheekily and shoot! Wham! Goooal! But he had a singular fault: he didn't see the need to pass the ball to his team-mates! When he was already playing for Newcastle, he was involved as a substitute in this league game against Fulham. Even though he blazed the field with his solo performance, and eventually won a penalty to which his team buddy converted, he could not flee from being singled out for reproach by his coach. "Learn to pass the ball!" This was his reward for his contributions to the victory. Santiago's unconscious self-absorption in gunning for personal glory is a mirror image of our lives. We often lose track of our priorities when we exalt ourselves and diminish others in our eyes. Like a football team, we don't operate alone in life. We are not independent of each other, and this is how God has created us to be - to engage others in fruitful fellowship. At our workplace, we need to establish rapport with our colleagues as we need each other's resources and support to help us to work better. At home, we treasure the ties with our parents and siblings to enhance the proximity within the family. At church (if you are a Christian), we fellowship with other believers to foster strong bonds that would attribute to our growth.

There were also scenes carrying ample warnings subtly issued to real-life footballers, against subscribing to temptations and vices in the river of viscous wealth. Alright. Enough of my tiresome rambling. The bottomline is - this movie is awesome and authentic. Go catch it if you have cash to spare. And even if you don't, borrow some, sit back, relax and revel in this masterpiece!!