United Passions (2015)

Announcement

If you're not a soccer fan, then the name FIFA means little to you (though you might know its the global governing body for the sport). FIFA holds an enormous amount of economic and political power through their stewardship of the World Cup, which is the most watched sporting event in the world (seriously, 1.5 BILLION people watched the 2022 World Cup Final). If you follow soccer at all, you might know FIFA for all of that, and for also being almost hilariously corrupt. Sometimes it seems like every aspect of the sport is subject to racketeering, money laundering, bribery and fraud (to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars). All of which leads us to the former president of FIFA Sepp Blatter and tonight's movie, UNITED PASSIONS. "Under Blatter's leadership as president, eleven of the 22 committee members who voted on the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were fined, suspended, banned for life or prosecuted for corruption, including Blatter" says Wikipedia on just one of the articles focusing on the major corruption scandal that unfolded in 2015, which coincidentally is when United Passions was released in North America. Clearly intended as a hagiography about Blatter as well as João Havelange, his predecessor as president of FIFA (and a preposterously corrupt figure as well) the movie stars Tim Roth as Blatter, Sam Neill as Havelange and Gerard Depardieu as FIFA's third president Julet Rimet. It cost $32 million to make and grossed only $168k. "Writing in the London Evening Standard, Des Kelly described United Passions as "the worst movie ever made" and "the most extraordinary vanity exercise; a vile, self-aggrandizing, sugar-coated pile of manure where Blatter and Co. manage to make North Korea's Kim Jong-un look self-effacing"." It also has 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and received the Moldy Tomato award for the worst reviewed film of 2015. I bet we're gonna hate it and I can't wait to see it with you tonight at 6:30!

Description

An epic, untold story that brings to life the inspiring saga of the World Cup and the three determined men who created it. Driven by their vision and passion, three men, overcame their doubts and fought obstacles and scandals to make the World Cup a reality. Spanning the tumultuous 20th Century, this timeless saga celebrates the event that became the most popular sporting event in the world.

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