The 2006 World Cup started this week with teams from all over the world from England to Trinidad & Tobago (in the very first appearance) to Brazil to Portugal competing for the coveted top prize. But unlike, other international sports competitions like Wimbledon or the Grand Prix, the Olympics or even the ahem, Oscars millions and millions of people around the globe will be listening and watching and not just for a few days or one night but an ENTIRE MONTH! However, the majority of those millions will not come from the United State, even though there is a US team that is actually contrary to years past doing quite well. There is no full on network coverage like NBC does for Wimbledon or the Olympics. Is it because Americans just don't care about football/soccer or is there something else at work here? I just don't get it. There is certainly money to be made in advertising dollars, good looking superstar athletes (as demonstrated by the lovely Becks) and kids all over the country play it with parents watching and cheering them on - family values at their very best. What is it all about? Why ha America kind of ignored this worldwide phenomenon except for at McDonalds in Latino communities? I think I got it....football matches are quite long with very low scoring. There often contain sublime moments of utter athletic perfection (see Becks' left foot), great endurance and quick skill that you will remember for a lifetime after but those moments do not come quickly and without patience, much like what happens when you watch a foreign film. Perhaps this is why Americans are so afraid of the long running times and subtitles of some of these films. They are so used to the quick fix, the easy emotional pay off and the fortune cookie wisdom soundbyte from the trailer, that they have no patience to wait for the sublime.

Films by Kurosawa or Bunuel or Truffaut or Marker (some of the greatest foreign filmmakers of all time) are not exactly quick or apt to spell it all out to you. You must sit and wait and absorb with patience but if you do, you are rewarded by the sublime. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing better than a quickie - good guy vs bad guy story to help you escape from life's crap but I implore you, the audience, to take some time to watch a film by one of these directors without scheduling anything afterwards, you will NOT regret it. If you want to start out on the shorter side, check out Chris Marker's La Jetee - a film you may recognize the content of. If you are feeling incredibly adventurous, I recommend SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE by Victor Erice - an almost 4 hour epic poem that is one of the most beautiful and moving things committed to film.

Go England!

Keeping it indie,
Julie