Documentarian Ragnhild Ekner’s new documentary ULTRAS is a fascinating and nuanced look at football fan culture. Most of the depiction of football fans in the media shows the hooliganism and violence, even if it’s glorifying it in films like FOOTBALL FACTORY. Ekner tries to show the more positive side of fan culture - the camaraderie, the sense of purpose, and, more seriously, sometimes the ability to protest an oppressive government.
Along the way we hear from a Spanish woman who finds solace in football after the tragic death of her young son. We see some young Indonesian women who are superfans and lobby for female inclusion in the fandom. We hear from Polish and Egyptian men who feel that they have no place in the predominant culture and so create their own youth culture. The best bit was some young men in Eastbourne - a town full of retirees - whose only chance to hang out with other young men is at a local club with a small supporter group.
Ekner does not shy away from the darker side of football culture. We hear about intra-fan violence and heavy-handed policing. Some of the Polish fans make the good point that the police are themselves a kind of mob of thugs who like having a Saturday afternoon punch-up - not that different from the fans they are policing. And the Spanish mum talks about having to explain to her son why a middle-aged woman refused to get on a bus with them and a whole bunch of superfans. She had to explain the perceptions but also the reality of how intimidating a large group of very loud very adrenaline-hyped blokes can be. Most movingly, the final sequence is a retelling of an horrific example of kettling in a stadium where one set of fans started stabbing the others. 72 people died of their injuries or of suffocation.
Overall, this is exactly the kind of documentary I love. Told with passion but also fairness, taking us into a world we might not otherwise see, full of empathy and insight.
ULTRAS has a running time of 89 minutes.
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