Forever Chape (2018) User Reviews

Right tone, could've been very good

[rmgaspar-49er · 7/10 · 6 September 2018]

I follow the club and obviously know accident details. But this is supposed to be about Chape's history from a small club to international success. A great idea, but average execution, as we go through photos and headlines without seeing important names, heroes or matches between 1977 and 1993 - the hard years. Why so many people dressed like Indians?

The main difficulty here might be copyright. How to tell such a story without showing one goal, one save, one minute of a match? You'd think this would make the film impossible. While it is a big problem, again the screenplay has a nice way of going around it...only to waste the effort by not identifying who the people speaking are, especially who are the players shown (besides the survivors, main interviewd people).

Names, scores, hurried, and without proper identification. Regular audiences will not go into individual faces, stories. In fact players who died are not real characters, only Chape is. The names and faces of the dead ones are nowhere to be seen. It is on purpose, but a questionable decision - at least for the players. How about saying Follman lost his leg before 104 minutes? So, good ideas and nice structure, but details not well taken care of sometimes.

But let's raise a huge positive. It deals with the tragedy remarkably well, no cheap sensationalism, interviewing all the right people, all the angles considered. It is a hard task, and it is well done. It doesnt waste unnecessary time in assigning and explaining blame, it is not the focus. Also, showing what happened afterwards, well done.

It has its flaws and they were actually the easier ones to address, but getting the right tone deserves credit.

Masterpiece

[mfellipecampos · 10/10 · 21 November 2019]

Before being just a movie about a football club, "Forever Chape" is a story of unity, struggle and overcoming. And also proud of a city that can project itself nationally and internationally through its players. It has an epic dimension - about how Chape soon evolved from series D to A. Success, the pain of loss. Do you want to know if you are going to cry? It goes, but the curious thing is the leadership party, which never shows what, after all, made the glory of Chape, his happy football. Uruguayan director Luis Ara arrives at his third film with the documentary Forever Chape, in which he tells the story of Chapecoense, the popular Chapecó football club in Santa Catarina, against the backdrop of the 2016 air crash, in which 71 people died, including virtually every player, staff, board, and journalist heading to Medellin, where the South American Cup final would be played. With archival footage showing the club's trajectory from the fourth to the first division in just six years, the film reveals how the team managed to unite the entire city around itself, becoming a source of pride. And how he managed to rise from the ashes after the accident. The final third is the most exciting, as it recalls the accident, with the participation of only three surviving players, Neto, Alan Ruschel and Follmann, who had part of one leg amputated. The team also travels to Medellin, where they talk to a flight controller, who communicated with the plane's commander of the Bolivian airline LaMia, but could do nothing to make the landing safe. With the fuel tank dry, tragedy could not be avoided. Before it's just a movie about a football club, Forever Chape is a story of unity, struggle and overcoming. And also proud of a city that can project itself nationally and internationally through its players. It doesn't seem like much, but in times of world cup falling, it's an example of humility, perseverance, and love for the shirt. It may be jargon for the days of victory, but in the case of Chape, it is a mantra for facing defeat. The summary of a story that goes from 73 to five months after the tragedy. impossible not to cry when reliving this situation ... exciting testimonials, very well done. So my movie grade is 10.0. overcoming.

Documentary film seen on April 21, 2019