Film Name: 好像也没那么热血沸腾 / Lose to Win / Champion
《Lose to Win》 is a comedy film with tears in its eyes and good intentions. Although the title of the film is “Not So Hot”, it is actually a respectful portrayal of the “hotness” of ordinary people. Initially, I was worried about consuming the “young at heart” group, but after watching the film, I found that it was wrong to think that way. Throughout the film, we can feel that the production team respected this special group of people and did not make a big fuss about them, and because of this, the ending part of the film can touch people’s hearts.
Adapted from the Spanish film 《Campeones》, the film follows Wei Guo Zheng, a basketball coach who is obsessed with winning and is forced to teach at a special school due to a penalty. When the egotistical coach, who believes that “playing is all about winning”, meets a group of players who love basketball but have “negative ability values”, in the midst of their daily life and interrupted basketball training, will Wei, who is on the verge of breaking down, come up with a miraculous trick to continue his undefeated streak? Will Coach Wei have any tricks to continue his undefeated streak? Will they be able to make a positive out of their negative values and win the championship in the upcoming league?
The film records the journey of a disabled basketball team from white to the second in the country from Coach Wei’s point of view. The lead actors acted vividly and sincerely, especially the use of real disabled children as actors in the film, which was very touching. The coach makes some autistic children and children with Down’s syndrome gradually take care of themselves, understand the rules and teamwork from basketball, and such a special group of children also let him understand that basketball is not only about winning and losing, but also about happiness, and the runner-up is the second best team in the country, which is also very impressive. There is irony and warmth in the film, and I was deeply empathetic to the teacher’s madness to protect them from social contact. The teachers and parents of these children also want to treat them as a normal human being, but there are too few people in the society who can think this way, which caused me to reflect deeply.
I thought it was an ordinary comedy film, I thought it was a serious hot-blooded basketball film, neither, it wrapped the cruelty of reality with the veneer of comedy, and bonded the heart youth with the team spirit of the basketball game. The film idealises the current situation and problems of the disabled in society, but it’s rare to see this topic presented in a light-hearted way. In reality, it’s difficult for charities to raise funds, children with disabilities are hard to take care of themselves, social discrimination is everywhere, and some of the children’s key psychological problems can’t be overcome with a single “bath”. It takes a lot of time, money and manpower to pay attention to the disadvantaged minority groups. The film uses comedy to show a successful and beautiful wish, and hopefully it can enlighten the society, which is also a good deed.
Is this supposed to be the most commercial domestic film on the subject of special people? The film has a lot of laughs from the audience in all the places where the baggage is shaken, and the second half of the film is so combustible that I actually shed a tear at the end of the film. At the same time it’s anti-climactic, with the film’s characters spouting their own inability to be melodramatic, and the tension is comforting. The level-headed gestures towards the autistic and Down’s children were also commendable, neither looking down on them nor being overly protective, while watching it I couldn’t tell who in the cast was real and who was acting, and after watching it to get a little behind the scenes insight, the creators really did bring in a couple of special kids to make the film, which was great.
Comedy + special people + sports theme, these three elements determine that this is a film project with a high degree of difficulty, whether it is the theme of the intention, the script rhythm or the scale of the pinch, not well handled will be a word-of-mouth disaster. But this did, not only feel the full sincerity, each character portrayal of the heart, the most important lines of laughter is too dense: “Adults to achieve the purpose sometimes have to take a detour”; “you just blind a few Xing play it”; “Seeing this kind of blocking play in the Special Olympics league is like an aubergine on a sorghum pole – unbelievable.” …… And when I see that no matter which side scores, everyone is friendly and encouraging to each other, that’s what makes competitive sports so special. Encouragement is the real charm of competitive sports: losing and winning are not as important as creating value in life.
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