“Every four years, the World Cup offers something not unlike the movies: For a whole month, it stops time, enveloping its distant spectators in the electric-green glow of the screen. But there’s more to the ‘beautiful game’ than balletic ball-moves and the cheek-gnawing suspense of gameplay characterized by low score count. … The pulsing moment is one of communal exultation at odds with the film’s forthcoming depiction of a fractious multiethnic society. …”
NY Times (Video)