The very big dream

There are many people in Germany who live true to the motto: "Football is our life"! It is hard to imagine that this was once different. But there was a time when football was considered a disgrace and completely un-German in our country. But how the round leather could roll into the hearts of the Germans, about it now tells the film based on true events "Der ganz große Traum".

Braunschweig in 1874: the young teacher Konrad Koch (Daniel Brühl) comes back home after a long stay in England to teach English at the venerable Martino-Kathraineum Gymnasium. Since his students initially resist learning the language of the "enemy" and have extreme difficulty with vocabulary and pronunciation, Koch is always looking for new ways to bring them closer to the language and way of life of the English. And so it happens that one day he teaches them a completely new sport: Football. The idea is to teach the students cohesion and team spirit in a playful way, and to memorize some important vocabulary along the way. And indeed, Koch's experiment works. Not only do his boys develop a feeling for the language, they also find real joy in this unusual sport. But most of their colleagues, as well as their influential parents, are rather annoyed by this. They want to ban football from the school and thus from the children's lives by any means necessary. But they have made the calculation without the students.

Surely, "The Very Big Dream" reminds not only once of films like "The Dead Poets Society" or "The Children of Monsieur Mathieu". But even if Sebastian Grobler doesn't reinvent the wheel with his cinematic debut and in many moments only presents old familiar things in a new way, this sporty history lesson can definitely entertain. This may be due to the fact that Grobler has found the right mixture of drama and humor as well as pathos and emotion. Even if some moments, especially towards the end, come close to bordering on kitsch, it manages convincingly to always hit the brakes in time.

Another plus point is the fact that, unlike many other German films, "Der ganz große Traum" doesn't feel like a slightly more expensive television production, but just like a real feature film. The engaging camerawork, the fitting score, as well as the coherent set contribute a considerable part to this. The actors are also well chosen. Although Daniel Brühl as the teacher takes a little getting used to at first, he proves to be perfect casting in the end. It is easy to buy Brühl's enthusiasm with which Koch tries to teach his students, but also their doubting parents, the passion for football. Burghart Klaußner as the open-minded headmaster and Justus von Dohnányi as the imperious chairman of the school's booster club also prove that Grobler and his team have been able to assemble a really great cast of adult actors in front of the camera.

But it's not really the experienced actors who own this film. That credit belongs squarely to the young mimes, who are particularly delightful as an ensemble. Surely, the role distribution is already very clear here, a little clichéd and also character changes with the one or other student come rather surprisingly poorly. Nevertheless, the young mimes seem authentic and convincing, which makes it very easy for the viewer to be emotionally touched by their story.

Even though "The Very Big Dream" has a high recognition value and offers little more than routine, Sebastian Grobler has succeeded overall in making a simply beautiful and, above all, entertaining film that can be warmly recommended not only to football fans. Not quite as touching as "The Children of Monsieur Mathieu", but still well worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp