For preview only. Get it at Amazon.com  #ad.

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait

6.25
12345678910
Ratings: 6.25/10 from 12 users.

Zidane: A 21st Century PortraitAn intriguing premise for a full-length feature, the idea behind Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait is simple. Back in April of 2005, Real Madrid--replete with Zinedine Zidane, arguably the world's finest footballer at the time--played Villareal in the Spanish league. At that game, seventeen cameras were all trained on Zidane.

The film? At heart, it's 90 minutes of following the great man around a football field. Yet it's fascinating. Really. Save for the odd subtitled comment, and a not-entirely-comfortable compilation of the day's news that's interspersed at half time, the focus is purely one man playing a game of football. It's not a raging success by any means, and there are moments in Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait where the interest level significantly drops. Yet when it works, it really works astoundingly well, and you'd be hard-pushed to find any other film that does anything even vaguely similar. It's backed, it should be noted, with excellent supporting music too.

The 2006 World Cup, of course, gave Zidane's career an ending it never really deserved. And while Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait isn't a dish that everyone's going to warm to, those that do will surely be left reflecting on one of football's greatest geniuses, rather than one mad moment in Germany. Turner Prize-winning artist and filmmaker Douglas Gordon teams up with French artist Philippe Parreno to create a work glorious in its simplicity.

More great documentaries

21 Comments / User Reviews

  1. Dave Rhodes

    What a snorefest that was.

  2. Luke S Cromer

    it is not about his skill or even football. it is video art concerned with more conceptual ideas such as immersion in the image, haptic visuality and modes of perception. it is amazing work. shot in high definition with telephoto lens cameras and high range mics. you really need to see it in better quality. this copy here is good for reference only i guess. thanks for uploading.

    if you are a zidane/football fan but have no interest in the artistic elements mentioned above it will be boring/difficult to watch. otherwise, get blu-ray copy and watch on a huge screen and high quality sound if you can. also, there is another film on george best that does something very similar called "fussball wie noch nie, a portrait of george Best", 1971.

  3. thenesteamonster

    this guy didn't misplace one single ball

  4. TheSatyaYuga

    Every time he gets the ball anything is possible. While it may not come to pass that level of expectancy is what makes this film truly unique.

  5. vishnu praveen

    id rather prefer to watch tat match than wasting 90 minutes of my life on this video.....

  6. Warmech

    It's only boring if you never played football, and coming from the usa i can say only one really deserves the title. Considering american football(which i love, go bears and south bend is my hometown, GO IRISH!) only involves ball to foot about 1% of the time. Zidane and ronaldinhio(damnit i can never remember how to spell that wonderful footballer's name) are the best CAM's i have ever had the privilege to watch. Great doc if you love the game.

  7. Dukilein

    little bit boring

  8. JaseTheAce

    I went to the opening in NYC.
    There was QA with the two filmmakers afterwards.

    They said didn't want to make a just documentary, they wanted to "paint a picture", and this makes sense with the name of the movie (Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait) like an old masterpiece.

    They wanted to simply paint a picture that captures a tradesman, plying his trade at a specific time in his career.
    So in 20 years people could go back and look at the picture again.

  9. JaseTheAce

    I went to the opening in NYC.
    There was QA with the two filmmakers afterwards.

    They said didn't want to make a just documentary, they wanted to "paint a picture", like an old masterpiece. This makes sense with the name of the movie Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.

    They said they wanted to simply paint a picture that captures a tradesman, plying his trade at a specific time in his career. No story needed, just a picture, you decide the rest. So in 20 years time people could go back and look at the picture again.

  10. Gourav Banerjee

    gurudeb..................

  11. 4RMunknownstudent

    LEGEND

  12. mayur

    This dat i wanted.........

  13. creutzfeld

    Most boring movie I have ever seen. Shite.

  14. Irish Shane

    i dont think too many people truly appreciate the efforts of footballing greatness.

    not nessarily the most thrilling video one will ever watch but for anyone who knows or wishes to learn the beautiful game and the active mindset of the people playing at the highest level. A MUST WATCH!

    thanks for posting.

  15. johannesfaust

    the genius at work; thanks for posting it

  16. 2idane

    He is not so fast at running and the strong on the feild, but he has the most important thing of football and it's mind. He has a football mind. And that is the most important thing, if you have it you won't need to have strenght and fastness. You have to only cool down and play easy.

  17. Mo Akoush

    Zidane is the Strategist!.. Brilliant

  18. Andriy S

    Great Movie ! at first i thought it was his last ever match.. but it was a year before... great energy expenditure by Zidane... doesn't waste it on unneeded movements... super first touch... oh ahh :) one of the best for sure !

  19. Vivalastef

    His vision is legendary his legacy will always live one. He is the greatest footballer of MY TIME!

  20. III

    zidane is the best who ever did it. its a shame it all ended with a red card. i miss his unrivaled vision. he was such a good team player.

    regardless that headbutt was EPIC!

  21. travis

    thanks for posting this, ive been wanting to check it out. although i'm not a big football fan, the soundtrack to this doc is by one of my favorite post-rock bands, Mogwai. so i know at least the soundtrack will be good!