Mi Mundial or Home Team is a Uruguayan film adaptation in view of Daniel Baldi's namesake book. It recounts the narrative of Tito, a young and talented football player, who comes from a poor family in a little town and his whole world changes when he is sent to play for a major team in the city. Everybody knows Tito is a wonder on the field, yet his dad demands he puts the same amount of effort in school. This totally backfires once an agent discovers Tito as a talented player and ends up persuading the family into leaving their Nogales home and moving to Montevideo. Will Tito be able to achieve his ambition? Or will his passion for football ruin his future?
In Nogales, Tito (Facundo Campelo) had been told all his career that he would be the next Neymar or Pele. His father Reuben (Nestor Guzzini) aches for him to dedicate as much time to his homework as he does to his football preparing. At the point when agent Rolando (Roney Villela) offers Tito a chance to play in a big league, the family receives an offer for a better life that they cannot refuse. He begins to work hard in his football and mediocrely in his studies, but who he leaves back home is his significant other Florencia (Candelaria Rienzi) who feels like she has been thrown aside. All of this contributes to Tito becoming egotistical, materialistic, and, dare I say, a brat. Of course, he had his fair share of getting picked on from the older boys in his team, and it seems like he exerted all of that negative, frustrated energy onto his parents--his father, in particular.
There is nothing extremely surprising or impressive in Home Team's story nor in the way it's carried out. Director Carlos Andres Morelli shows off Tito's talent in some slow-motion shots and cutaways to impressive goals, and then there are the necessary shots of training that you'd find in any sports-related film. As far as the characters go, Rolando is painted as the antagonist when he pushes Tito to do better on the field, which is simply his job. I feel like they were missing more intensity from Rolando if they truly wanted him to be a villain. Tito's dad, Reuben, is the voice of reason and tries to explain to his whole family how wrong it is to push a little kid such as Tito into the limelight. Yet, he is so concerned over his son's studies, that he doesn't allow him time to pursue the one thing he practically breathes for. They should've showed off the fact that both work and play is indeed acceptable and plausible, especially for a kid. Some scenes are too far from the truth, like when Tito is encouraged to down half-a-dozen shots to kiss a woman that is most definitely way older than 18. Despite the film's lucrative executions, I appreciated the story of how rough life can be when you fall into a miserable trap thinking you were on your way to achieving your dreams.
Overall, the acting was lackluster at best, writing was a bit dramatized but understandably so, and the cinematography was pretty okay. Home Team was definitely suspenseful and a tearjerker but may be a little much for a young audience to handle, and a bit underwhelming and unbelievable for an older audience. So, I'm left to presume that this film would work best with audiences of ages 12 and up. Ultimately, Home Team is a familiar story that shows you the love for the game but also the significance of your actions, on and off the field. I give it a rating of three out of five stars.
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