Film > TV & Cinema Film

GLADIATOR FOOTBALL

J. WALTER THOMPSON LONDON, London / CANON / 2015

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We’re in Florence, city of refinement and high culture.

But waiting inside these statue-lined walls is something tribal, brutal, shocking. The bone-crunching, centuries-old game of Calcio Storico, or Gladiator Football.

In the square outside St Croce church, we watch this mash-up of Fight Club and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. To the manic sound of Khachaturian’s ‘Sabre Dance’, two teams of twenty-seven heavily muscled, tattooed men, wearing medieval pantaloons, attempt to punch and kick their way to victory.

There seem to be no rules. The game – and the film – is full of violent and compelling images. Fists thudding into jaws. Bodies slamming to the ground. Medics in plumed hats bearing comatose men away on stretchers. Meanwhile the flare-wielding crowd roars its allegiances.

A goal is scored. Wild celebrations take place. The intensity of the game increases. Tempers explode. Spectators scream. The players run, swerve, jump, wrestle, maul.

A title appears over this riotous spectacle: ‘Come and See’.

At the final whistle, we see the emotions of the players. Exhaustion. Disappointment. Jubilation.

Finally, over a wide shot of the city where all this carnage has been witnessed and filmed, we see the Canon logo.

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