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Rating: Traditional initial quote (almost) out of place but much appreciated by us young people:
"What's the satisfaction in supporting Juventus, Milan, Inter...? They always win, you end up getting bored: better to support Cremonese, which is always a struggle" (E.V. My fellow soldier in Trieste, December 1995)
"If only I could support West Ham..." (my response)
People who are no longer with us:
Both Alan Clarke (director) and Al Ashton (screenwriter) now follow the Premier League from another dimension: this review is dedicated to them.
Small Glossary for Dummies:
Heysel and Hillsborough: to never forget...and to clarify that I do not intend with this review to glorify anything but merely to talk about a film that, for better or for worse, emotionally involved me.
Hooligan Firm or Hooliganism: Organized group(s) of individuals, united by their support for the same team, whose sole interest is creating chaos, disturbance, incidents, fights, etc., related (although often far in both space and time from the matches) to the world of football. English hooliganism was born apolitical, without economic interests and without any racial purpose, but only with the goal of social disorder for its own sake. In Italy, the situation is markedly different.
I.C.F: The Inter City Firm ("protagonist" of the film in question, even though the name is changed to Inter City Crew) is among the most famous hooligan "organizations" in the United Kingdom: "associated" with West Ham Utd. and active between the '70s and '90s, in Italy it became famous mainly for the book by Cass Pennant.
Words:
Bex, a real estate agent married with a child, is the head of a group of hooligans (I don't believe the plural "hooligans" is accepted in Italian): in anticipation of the 1988 European Championship (in Germany) he attempts to unite the other most important English groups into a national Firm, in order to face the Dutch "supporters" more compactly. Needless to say, he proposes himself as the leader but this will not be accepted by the other heads...
"The Firm" is not, from a cinematic viewpoint, a great film: the style is a mix (inevitable since it was produced, in 1988, by and for the BBC) between television drama (the British kind though, not Italian horrors) and documentary, the direction is dry (also aided by the short duration: just under 70 minutes), without particular stylistic touches, and the script essential (necessarily vulgar at times, but never "rough"), among the actors I highlight a young but as always brilliant Gary Oldman.
Not a masterpiece, as said, but it has the merit of being the (at least to my memory and according to my information: if I'm wrong you'll hit me...) first and still (always to my taste) best film to address the problem of organized violence in (and also outside) stadiums: best because it does so without any poetry (an ever-present risk) but only cold and lucid reportage, best because it was the first to open Pandora's box and reveal (publicly) that hooligans, or the vast majority of them, did not come from the disadvantaged classes of society but from the famous middle class, always a cross and delight of all Western societies. More a denunciation than a film, therefore, and fortunately the choice to maintain a sober style (which still does not spare moments of violent tension) ends up emphasizing only the documentary contents without the risk of creating easy (and harmful) myths.
In conclusion:
I have the film, dubbed in Italian, on a VHS recorded in the '80s (I had just become a WHUFC supporter coincidentally...) by Fininvest back then, I believe it is still possible to find it only in its original language on various direct DVD-selling sites: if you have any more information on the existence of an Italian version on DVD my gratitude for you would be eternal.
Mo.
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