Cinema, in addition to having fun, can become a powerful weapon, capable of generating powerful messages, denouncing, criticizing and ultimately claiming. Thinker Marshall McLuhan said, “The medium is the message. “In this sense, cinema is an excellent half champion (Javier Fesser, 2018) became the big winner of the last Goya Awards.
With a cheerful and innocent tone, Champions sends a clear and blunt message: it aims to make people generally excluded from society visible. Three Goya Awards under his arm accompany his blockbuster: Best Original Song, Best Film and Best New Actor for Jesús Vidal.
- It’s not easy to make a film that sheds some light on intellectual disability without falling into melodrama or too sweet.
- And while Champions is extremely optimistic.
- It embraces differences with smile.
- Based on respect and inclusion.
Take advantage of the value of these people who, every day, fight for their integration into an increasingly competitive and demanding society.
Regardless of its positive message, the film also leaves room for criticism, which goes beyond the obvious: in a totally dehumanized world, we need smiles and a good dose of humanity.
Marco Montes is the second coach of a basketball team, accustomed to high-level competitions, his personal life is not at his best and, professionally, he is beginning to falter. Montes loses his job and, after a series of disagreements for driving under the influence of alcohol, lies between the sword and the wall.
You will have to choose between spending time in prison or coaching a basketball team made up of people with intellectual disabilities. Clearly, the choice, albeit reluctantly, is clear. We quickly met the members of the Friends team, and for Marco the situation is becoming desperate.
Consciousness is gradual; Marco learns a little more about each player’s personal situation. Everyone fights, day by day, like all of us. Getting a job is something that we completely normalize, we take it for sure, even if it’s getting more complicated for everyone. However, the situation gets even worse when we talk about people with disabilities.
The film, in turn, shows a certain complaint. There are countless things that we consider common, that are normal and that we no longer question, but the reality is different for each of the individuals that make up a society, nor could Marco himself play the role of basketball player, because it does not have an essential feature for the sport: to be great.
Likewise, Champions shows us the darker side of some companies, which take advantage of the state’s benefits to hire people with disabilities, underestimate and despise these people, and give them a different and derogatory treatment.
Also, take this opportunity to remind us that our actions can add considerable value to the lives of others. Marco drives under the influence of alcohol and is a fact that, in addition to ending countless lives, can cause other irreversible damage. .
As we’ve already anticipated, such a film can fall into topics, such as pen and sentimentality. Champions does not completely escape the topics, but avoids melodrama, approaching a much more human vision.
Sport should include fun, overtaking and effort. Unfortunately, in some cases, this vision is far from reality. And I’m not just talking about elite sports, but also our day-to-day life. How much news of sports fights do we hear?How many children’s competitions have their images stained by the harmful competition?I don’t mean to disqualify all sports, or say that we shouldn’t do our best. Competitiveness does, but to the right extent.
We seem to lose respect, that in the struggle to be the best, we don’t care if we have to step on someone, and that’s something we didn’t know about children, but that we learned over time.
Children, like the protagonists of the film, play sport for fun, of course, we all want to win, we all want our efforts recognized, but that’s not why we crush our opponents or cry in the face of defeat.
Sport must function as a link, capable of removing barriers and borders, a tool that allows us to enjoy, socialize and also why not?beat us.
We must try to win, yes, as in all the battles we face every day, but winning does not mean destroying the opponent, this lesson will not be taught by Marco, this lesson will be learned from people who still retain innocence and purity. , and they are able to hug the opponent by winning or losing.
Humor, in turn, works perfectly with champions. Humor appears in different situations, but at no point is there mockery, all the characters are able to make us laugh, but not of them, but of them, there is the difference.
You learn from everything and everyone, but the message is not limited to its plot and its entity as a cinematic product, because it goes much further. On the one hand, are the actors on the basketball team inexperienced?Except Jess Vidal. ? who also has some kind of disability.
Visibility is presented from the inside, giving these people the opportunity to star in a film, in which they have shown with distinction that they adapt perfectly to their characters and their demands. With enthusiasm and hard work, they presented us with interpretations that transcend any social mold. We don’t see this label that in many cases these people wear, but we appreciate the film and its characters.
The inclusion is reflected in the film, but also behind the scenes, Fesser has recruited people with intellectual disabilities to work in other areas that do not appear on screen, they also had the support of different organizations and it was a strong motivation for them With conscience and demands, great things can be achieved.
The Goya Awards have been immersed in the energy and joy that the Champions League gives us, but above all, they shone with Jess Vidal’s spectacular speech, a thank you speech with which she gave the floor to all her companions and all those. who, like him, has a disability. Vidal has a visual impairment of 90%, but that has not prevented him from graduating in Hispanic Philology, doing a master’s degree in journalism and, of course, demonstrating his acting ability.
It is certainly a speech that we must all hear, which has raised smiles and tears of emotion in an environment that sometimes, as in sport, is marked by superficiality and excessive competitiveness. As Vidal says: “inclusion, visibility and diversity”, a great lesson and three much-needed words.
Capturing all this innocence and naturalness, Champions is able to convey a completely humanizing message, consciousness can be done in different ways, either through politics or the media, in this case cinema proposes a change of perspective, a change in the way we see. these people who, unfortunately, continue to be excluded and silenced.
Reality itself inspired the film, because the idea was born through a newspaper article, although Champions is not the first film to address inclusion issues, has managed to open or expand the way, is fun and represents a breath of fresh air.
Life lessons and visibility deserved because we, as Marco, also have a lot to learn.
“We’re going in to win, not humiliate. ” ? Champions?