Description

CUP FINAL is “a splendid anti-war film,” (The New York Times) that cleverly uses the sports world as a metaphor to examine the passions and drive behind going to war and winning a game.

It’s June, 1982. Israel has just invaded Lebanon. Unfortunately, this action takes place while the World Cup soccer tournament is held in Spain. Cohen (Moshe Ivgi), an Israeli reserve soldier, has tickets for the games in Barcelona, but he is stuck in South Lebanon, seeking out the enemy. Things go from bad to worse for him when he is captured by a band of retreating PLO soldiers en route to Beirut. Cohen’s only solace is that the PLO leader, Ziad (Muhamed Bacri), shares his passion for the Italian national soccer team and as they travel through the war-torn country side they stop periodically to follow the action.

CUP FINAL is a tale of shared humanity, laced with humor, wit and emotion, which shows that, though enemies on one front, human beings can be allies on another. It also shows how passions can flare and violence can erupt anywhere at anytime, leaving a deadly path. Extraordinary ensemble acting, and particularly the portrayal of the two main characters, Cohen and Ziad, under Eran Riklis direction, keeps the story politically even-handed as the film contemplates ideas of human bonding and geographical boundaries.