The Film Champions, A Beautiful Lesson In Humanity

Beyond giving us a good time, the cinema can sometimes prove to be a powerful weapon, capable of disseminating strong messages, of denouncing, of criticizing, in short of claiming. Thinker Marshall McLuhan said: “the medium is the message.” Cinema is an excellent vector. The Spanish film Champions (Javier Fesser, 2018) was a great success at the Goya 2018 (the Spanish Oscars).

In a cheerful and innocent tone, Champions sends a clear and strong message. It seeks to make visible certain people who are often victims of exclusion in our society. Beyond its box office success, this film won three Goya Awards in the following categories: Best Original Song, Best Picture and Best Male Newcomer for Jesús Vidal.

Making a film that highlights the theme of intellectual disability is not easy. It’s easy to fall into melodrama or portray a watered-down reality. Champions has chosen to have an optimistic point of view when addressing the theme of the difference in respect and inclusion.

It highlights the dignity of people who, day after day, fight for their integration into an increasingly competitive and demanding society.

Besides its positive message, the film also leaves room for criticism. In a world that is often totally inhuman, we need smiles and a good dose of humanity.

The history of Champions

Marco Montes is the assistant coach of a basketball team. He is used to high level competitions. On a personal level, things are not going very well; professionally, he is starting to lose momentum. Things get complicated when Montes loses his job and is arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

He must then choose between prison or be responsible for training a basketball team made up of people with intellectual disabilities. The choice is then quickly made. Marco then meets the members of the “ Los Amigos ” team and quickly becomes desperate.

However, Marco gradually learns a little more about the personal situation of each player. This then makes him aware of the topic of disability . Its players all fight, day after day, like all of us. It is already difficult to get a job; for a disabled person, it is even more complicated.

An awareness effort

The film thus denounces certain inequalities. There are countless elements of how society works that we take for granted. This seems normal to us and we do not question them.

However, each person who makes up society experiences their own reality. Thus, Marco himself could not become a basketball player because he does not have a characteristic essential to the practice of this sport: to be tall.

Likewise, Champions makes us discover the hidden face of some companies that hire people with disabilities. Sometimes they do it to take advantage of the grants, but these employees are often treated differently and with contempt. They are generally underestimated and devalued by their employers.

In addition, the film also reminds us that individual behavior can have a huge impact on the lives of others. For example, when Marco drove under the influence of alcohol, it could have claimed the lives of some or caused irreversible injuries to others.

As we said before, a film dealing with this type of subject runs the risk of quickly falling into clichés, sentimentalism or drama. Even if Champions does not completely escape certain clichés, he avoids melodrama and offers us a much more human vision.

Humor and sport as a unifier

Sport should be synonymous with pleasure, surpassing oneself and effort. Unfortunately, this is often far from the reality, even outside of high performance sport. How many times does an amateur match end in a fight? How many more children play sports in an unhealthy competitive environment?

Without wanting to blame the sports world, or say that it is wrong to give your best, it is good to recognize that competitiveness is only desirable to a certain extent.

However, it seems that we have lost the sense of respect. In this struggle to be among the best, we often agree to step on other people’s feet. This is something that is not found in children: this attitude is learned over time. Like the protagonists in the film, children play sports for fun.

Of course, it is natural to want to win. We all want our efforts to be rewarded. Still, that doesn’t mean we have to crush our opponents for this, or cry over a loss.

Sport should function as a link capable of breaking down barriers and borders. Like a tool that allows us to appreciate each other, to socialize and, why not, to surpass ourselves too.

We must strive to win, as in all battles we fight every day. However, winning does not necessarily mean destroying the opponent. This lesson is given to us by Marco and by all the people who still retain their innocence, their purity. These people who can for example kiss their opponent at the end of a match. And this, whether they have won or lost.

Humor, in turn, works perfectly in Champions . The comic note is present in different situations. However, she is never mocking. All the characters are capable of making us laugh. We don’t laugh at them, but with them. This is where all the difference lies.

Champions, a lesson for all

We learn from everything and everyone. But Champions’ strength is not just limited to this message, this film goes much further. On the one hand, with the exception of Jesús Vidal, all the actors who make up the basketball team are people with no theatrical or cinematic experience. On the other hand, they all have a real handicap.

With enthusiasm and a lot of work, these people offer us performances that go beyond social limits. We end up no longer seeing their handicaps and we appreciate them for their game and their character.

Inclusion is reflected in the film, but also behind the scenes. Fesser surrounded himself with people with intellectual disabilities to work on the film. It also benefited from the support of various specialized organizations. It shows that by raising awareness and making demands, great things can be achieved.

This energy and joy that Champions instills in us  was palpable during the Goya ceremony. The spectacular speech of Jesús Vidal particularly moved. A speech of gratitude during which he gave the floor to all his colleagues and to all those who, like him, have a disability. Although Vidal is 90% visually impaired, he nonetheless earned a degree in Hispanic Philology, studied a Masters in Journalism, and has impressive acting skills.

Surely we should all listen to this speech. There were smiles and tears of emotion during this speech as the world of cinema is often characterized, like sport, by excessive competitiveness. As Mr Vidal reminds us, “inclusion, visibility and diversity” are three very necessary words.

Conclusion

By capturing all this innocence and naturalness, Champions manages to convey a perfectly humanistic message. Awareness of the topic can be done in different ways: either through politics or through the media.

Here, it is the cinema which proposes to change our perspective and our way of seeing these people who, unfortunately, all too often experience exclusion and humiliation.

Reality itself inspired the film. It is indeed thanks to a press article dealing with the subject that the idea was born. Today, Champions , while not the first film to address issues of inclusion, has opened or at least broadened a path. He’s funny and a breath of fresh air. This film offers us beautiful lessons in life and much needed visibility: like Marco, we also have a lot to learn.

Our thoughts

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