TITLE = 40 Jahre Bundesliga: Titel, Tränen, Triumphe (DVD) AUTHOR = Uwe Karte, Jörg Röhrig PRICE = EUR 19.95 SIZE = 2 DVDs YEAR = 2003, Kinowelt, Mawa Film&Medien, Bild SOURCE = www.kicker.de RATING = 2 stars
40 Years Bundesliga: Titles, Tears, Triumphs (In German)
Note: DVD format for Zone "2". Will not work on unmodified US-DVD
standalone players, but seems to work fine on PC based DVD-ROM readers.
I reluctantly give this 2 stars, although a 50% rating is perhaps more
appropriate. On 2 CDs, this effort is the "official DFL" story of the
league, and despite the thrilling subject matter, it actually
manages to be quite boring.
The aim is to cover the highlights of the Bundesliga from 1963-2003.
The first mistake is that the story is only loosely in chronological
order. It could have been simple and worthwhile to start with 1963, and
give a synopsis of each season, and perhaps have some "essays"
interspersed here and there. That way you could have continuity and
analysis. Instead, the story hops around, and although it has a general
chronological flow, you're often unclear where you are. Too much time is
wasted on generally worthless soundbites, that add nothing to the story.
40 Jahre does an acceptable job in portraying some of the great
star players of the league, although quite a few are never mentioned. Of
course,
that's more forgiveable than many TEAMS that are never mentioned at all.
Most of the highlights are actually quite boring as well. Often,
announcers from the time are used, and unfortunately they too are often
lame, like Ernst Huberty. A good journalist, but his play-by-play is
more suited to golf.
In summary, this is one of thoses movies that's worth seeing once, but
whether you should plunk down 20 euros is questionable. Of course, there
aren't many decent overviews of the Bundesliga, so it's not a complete
losing effort. Say 15th place and just avoided relegation...