Swedish filmmaker Ragnhild Ekner is a diehard IFK Göteborg fan and was partly driven to make a documentary about ultras, a subculture of diehard football fans, following the suicide of her close friend (explored in her previous film, The Traffic Lights Turn Blue Tomorrow). Going to football matches and the people she found there helped her through the grief; it’s a sentiment expressed by countless others in the film. Ekner meets and films ultras across the globe in their stadiums and off the pitch while also using archive footage to fill the gaps. The mass organisation involved with these fanatical supporters can sometimes be a source of violent hooliganism, which the film doesn’t shy away from, but for the most part this is a lyrical tribute to community, freedom, friendship and devotion to the beautiful game.
Early doors, the doc places the audience directly amid the hubbub of the stands, where colourful flares are ignited. Employing close-ups, dissolves and slow-motion, Ekner amplifies feelings of excitement and elation and continues in this mode of filmmaking for numerous arena sequences. The director’s narration adds to the ultra lore as she recounts a story of a young girl who doesn’t want to sit in the VIP section with her dad; she claims she wants to be close to the danger. Ekner quickly brings the viewer back down to earth with quiet observation of dedicated fans crafting tifos (handmade banners). Seeing the results of their artwork and breathtaking choreography come together is one of the many pleasures of the film.
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Ekner makes a creative decision to not show the faces of the people she meets on a one-to-one basis. She begins in Italy, where the titular term originated, as fans speak of the transcendent nature of attending a game. That elation is captured wonderfully in Indonesia where PSS Sleman fans sing in unison, all bundled together in what looks like a health and safety nightmare. It’s the country that has the most female ultras. Things take a darker turn in the second half, when Ekner meets a fan who lost friends in the 2012 Port Said Stadium massacre following their involvement in the Arab Spring. In England, you hear a Manchester City fan recall how much the football-going experience has changed over 25 years. He has defected to the non-league team Eastbourne Town.
Running at just under 90 minutes, the film Ekner has crafted not only examines the politics and socioeconomics of each country she visits, but also channels the atmosphere of each locale via potent vistas and exhilarating revelry. The danger she speaks of early on in the film is expressed as a looming threat, yet the final result yields the same mood of a wildly passionate love affair.
