Mundial: The Highest Stakes

20141h 36min

A documentary tale about sport and politics under martial law. All of Poland saw the great goals of Boniek and Smolarek during the Espana '82 championships. For a moment, it was forgotten that the background of the sporting performance was martial law, censorship, an army on the streets, prisons filled with oppositionists. The performance of the players was so successful that it was called "the most beautiful series of martial law". The game is watched by interned activists of "Solidarity", sports journalists and censors, cutting out all manifestations of the opposition from television broadcasts. We also get to know the performance in Spain from the perspective of the players, trying to meet not only their ambitions but also to bear the burden of fans' expectations and regime propaganda.

Storyline

A documentary tale about sport and politics under martial law. All of Poland saw the great goals of Boniek and Smolarek during the Espana '82 championships. For a moment, it was forgotten that the background of the sporting performance was martial law, censorship, an army on the streets, prisons filled with oppositionists. The performance of the players was so successful that it was called "the most beautiful series of martial law". The game is watched by interned activists of "Solidarity", sports journalists and censors, cutting out all manifestations of the opposition from television broadcasts. We also get to know the performance in Spain from the perspective of the players, trying to meet not only their ambitions but also to bear the burden of fans' expectations and regime propaganda.

Released
May 23, 2014
Runtime
1h 36min
Language
Polish
Production
Unlimited Film Operations, Canal+ Polska, TVP, IAM, Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych