Rediscover Billy

The theater is closed, and the only way to find a movie is to watch it online. I have always liked to watch documentaries, and Netflix has a good selection, some of which are produced by themselves and have a good reputation. I saw this set of "Pelé" today, which was launched in February last year. The Brazilian football king used to be crazy for a while, but after he retired, he became a commentator. During the World Cup, he often lost every time he posted, causing some elites to prefer him not to mention his name. Hong Kong people call him "Crow's Mouth" is indeed a little disrespectful, but it is also the impression of him from the younger generation.

Maybe it's a long time ago. When he participated in the World Cup held in Sweden in 1958 at the age of 17, he was still not born. I believe that today's fans have really watched him play, very few. Just like myself, it’s just hearsay. Besides, TV was not yet popular in those days. Even the clips that were broadcast later were a bit vague, and it was more than ten seconds of scoring clips. It’s hard to say that I have a special impression. Therefore, I also doubted for a moment whether most of this documentary will be interviewed one by one, with more segments and less.

Therefore, my Sui was very surprised that they could find so many images. I'm not sure that the clips of his childhood are real. It should be made later to reproduce the situation at that time, but it is reasonable to cooperate with the "plot". And after he signed with the Santos club, practice, games, on the way abroad, in hotels and some private occasions including his wedding, it should be a real video, which greatly enhances the movie's viewability. Of course, there is also today's him, and the visits from his teammates, coaches, and family members of the previous class are quite comprehensive.

When I knew this character, it was already in the later years of his career that he went to the United States, and I had not watched a single game of him except for some of the best episodes that were usually shocking. And every time a World Cup match, a commentator reminds him how great he is the only player who has won three World Cup champion medals! Later, I also did some research on the history of the World Cup. After doing a lot of data collection, I noticed that in the 1962 and 1966 competitions, he only played the first two games before getting injured, and he did not participate in the rest of the competitions. He has just turned 17 years old, and the Brazilian national team in our minds must be full of stars, all of them on their own. He is just one of them. Therefore, it feels that he should be at the right time, just in the period of the Brazilian dynasty, just to catch a ride.

But from what he saw in the movie, his performance was really amazing. At that age (the youngest player in the World Cup final week record), he went to a different place halfway around the world and had no stage fright on such a big stage. , Under the strict defense, he can still do his best to play with opponents taller than him, such as entering no one's realm, scoring five goals personally, for the team, it is of great importance, and winning the championship is the result of his shared efforts, No doubt. In 1962 and 1966, they did not contribute much due to injuries. But in 1970, he originally decided not to play in the World Cup, and finally fought for the people and himself. At that time, there were voices saying that he had gone downhill and was at the end of the game. As a result, he regained his original intention, just like the mentality of a teenager, devoted himself to hard work, regardless of victory or defeat, and only obtained joy from the game.

In addition to scoring goals, there are a few moments that make people understand how good Billy is. The first game against the Czech Republic, he was in the middle of his half, and when he saw the Czech goalkeeper standing at the top of the penalty area, he suddenly shot a cold arrow. Two inches out of bounds, his ability to read the game is evident. In the second game against England, he had a wonderful head-beating, but unfortunately he encountered a wonderful save from the famous British goalkeeper Bens, but this one-beating has become an iconic episode in the history of the World Cup. And later in the final against Italy, Billy hit the same ball for the team to tie. In the third game against Uruguay, in the final stage, Billy responded with a straight pass, and the goalkeeper went out to meet him, but Billy just skipped the ball, bypassed the goalkeeper to the right, ran to his left, caught up with the ball and added a kick Shot to the empty goal, unfortunately a little deviation, the ball went out of bounds on the far post. He has also made many fearless and single-man battles, and his unique version of No look pass, all showing his extraordinary strength, without the slightest twilight state, and representing the national team with the best performance for the last time .

Of course, he is also an ordinary person. After the film briefly introduces his childhood life and family background, it is Billy's turn to appear today. In an empty room, I saw an empty stool, and then a shadow, holding the walker to the chair, sitting down and pushing the walker away, another person came to take it away, and the camera moved to this person's On the upper body, we see Billy today, his face is a little different, but it is not difficult to recognize it when we observe it. After all, time is inspiring. He is already eighty years old, and he had major surgery a few years ago. However, after the interviews began, that old-fashioned attitude gradually faded. Later, he and a group of old teammates had a dinner and drink, and everyone seemed to be back in the old days of youth, making a joke that was often made before, and still laughing so hard.

If you think that the movie is to be old and reaffirm the greatness of this generation of iconic players, the next time the movie will be, I am afraid it will be sad. After playing a clip of his wedding (Billy was later married twice), the reporter asked him directly if he had cheated. Billy hesitated, admitted it, and explained that in that era, the team often went out to play, and in unfamiliar cities, many female fans were willing to throw their arms around, and it was unavoidable. He also admitted that some even had children, which he learned about later. (A Maledonald documentary two years earlier had the same plot.)

But the biggest stain comes from the political situation! It turned out that there was a coup d'état in Brazil, the military seized power, and the dictatorship began in 1964 and did not end until 1985. During the period of indiscriminate compensation and indiscriminate punishment, people's grievances boiled, but many people dared to be angry but did not dare to speak. And Billy is a very popular star, life is not too bad, and he often goes out to play, out of sight, he tries to avoid talking about it himself. On the side of the people, even hoping that he would say a word or two, he himself remained silently neutral.

But as the saying goes, "You can avoid it for a while, but you can't avoid it forever", his football career is like a Japanese side, and when he is approaching the thousandth career goal, the whole country is paying attention. When it finally became history, everyone was happy for him and proud of being a Brazilian. The dictatorship also saw this and wanted to use Billy to bleach itself, so it sent an invitation that the president would meet Billy and congratulate him on his achievement of a thousand goals. As a result, Billy went there, shook hands with the president, took pictures, talked happily, and broke the hearts of supporting the people. One of the former teammates still has lingering resentment when he mentions it now: "I love this person deeply, but it doesn't stop me from accusing him!" He also pointed out that as long as he is willing to say a few words, he will definitely have weight and have a positive effect on the nation. It's a pity that as a black man under pressure, he chose to be a submissive obedient! He was still talking fiery, and Billy just shrugged and explained to himself, the president wants me to see him, what can I do?

And the film also explained that the dictatorship government wants to use the achievements of the World Cup to whitewash the regime. After the failure in 1966, the talents came out in large numbers in 70 years, so the government has been involved in the operation of the team for a long time, and almost all the staff and coaches are the military government. people who control the decision. Another key point is that Billy has announced that he will not participate in the World Cup again after the 66 years of competition, so the government sent people to lobby, coercion and inducement to use both soft and hard, which made Billy very troubled. If he kicks, there must be some fans who are dissatisfied and scold him for helping Zhou; After thinking about it and struggling several times, he finally decided to participate for the last time for the people and for himself. He was thirty years old at the time, and he was quite sure that there would not be another time, so he strengthened his training and preparations to deal with it in the best state.

However, the coach sent by the military government had some prejudice against him, and he was assigned a new position, which made him at a loss. The two sides often quarreled over the formation and tactics, and the quarrel was getting worse and worse, and the coach even made false reports. Billy's eye test report said his vision was declining and he was kicked out of the team. Because he is a member of the military government, his power is almost arbitrary, and he finally said publicly: I don't care how they (referring to the military government) choose ministers, and they don't care how I choose players. The statement seemed to offend those in power, and the coach was eventually removed and replaced by Mario Zagallo, a member of the '58 Champions and Billy's former teammate, and the team's preparations were back on track, after which Yes, it has been written into history. However, how the dictatorship behind it affected the overall situation, not many people knew at the time.

In fact, Billy and his team Santos once came to Hong Kong to play, probably after the World Cup in 1970, before he moved to the United States. At that time, it seemed to be the time of the Lunar New Year, and four games were arranged, against the Hong Kong team, the Hong Kong Federation and other teams, but the strength disparity was huge, and they were all defeated by a large number. In the last battle, the organizers invited the Newcastle team of the United Kingdom to play against it. It was still not an opponent, but a golden ball in the history of Hong Kong football appeared. With his back to Newcastle's goal, Billy received the pass in the penalty area, the defender pressed behind him, he easily controlled the ball in the air, the ball didn't touch the ground, two, three, and suddenly hit the ball high with his thigh. Behind him, he turns quickly behind the defender, gets the ball back in the air, and volleys into the net. Later, there were numbers, he touched the ball back and forth five times, did not touch the ground at all, and finally sent the ball into the net, which was amazing. There was no live broadcast at the time, and I’m not sure if there were any news clips, but someone filmed Santos’s visit to Hong Kong, and later edited it into a movie and played it in theaters. Movie name.

Going back to this film, when he first introduced his childhood, his father was also a football player, but an injury forced him to retire. The family income was affected. Billy dropped out of school when he was young and went out as a shoe shine boy to help make up for the family. This shoe-shine box is of great significance to him, and the movie later sees him sitting in the mansion, holding a shoe-shine box, tapping lightly, and contemplating. A poor boy back then, who didn't have much education, but has experienced many ups and downs. Looking back today, it's not too bad. The history he wrote is an iron-like fact. Sometimes, we question someone's achievements, I'm afraid we just don't know him well. And our understanding of the face of the times or the political background of certain countries is really too superficial.