Racism in France comes to the big screen
The latest football film to make its way onto the big screen departs from the usual junk which is usually served up for the cinematic football crowd, and takes the serious issues of loneliness and isolation fused with an undercurrent of French racism in football, and delivers it for global consumption.
“Substitute” is a documentary made by former French international midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo, chronicling the footballer’s bit-part contribution during Les Blues’ 2006 World Cup pursuit in Germany. Prior to the World Cup, Dhorasoo was a main feature in the French squad that secured qualification to the tournament. But when the big stage arrived, Dhorasoo, a Frenchman with a south Asian heritage, only managed to feature in two group matches against Switzerland and South Korea.
A recent interview with Dhorasoo in the Guardian provides the background behind the movie.
“In the summer of 2006, a friend of the French international footballer Vikash Dhorasoo gave him a Super 8 camera and told him to film what happened to him in the next few weeks. From the start, Dhorasoo couldn’t seem to get the hang of the camera: everything he shot, including himself, was slightly out of focus. Like Robin Williams’ character in Woody Allen’s film Deconstructing Harry, Dhorasoo became a bit of a blur. It wasn’t - or so you might think - a propitious start to a film-making career.”
“But existentially, at least, it was apposite: Dhorasoo never did come back into focus. He was heading off to Germany as one of France’s 23-man squad to contest the 2006 World Cup, aboard a team coach that bore the optimistic legend: ‘Liberté, Egalité … Jules Rimet.’ The wheels came off the Gallic bus in the final against Italy, when French legend Zinedine Zidane, stung by an insult, headbutted the Italian defender Marco Materazzi, and France were defeated on penalties. But Dhorasoo’s dreams of World Cup glory had faded earlier: he made only two appearances in the tournament, totalling eight minutes, as a substitute in France’s first two games.”
In this week’s podcast from the BBC’s World Football show, Dhorasoo spoke publicly about the racist undertones which he believed were the root cause for his cameo role during the World Cup.
When asked “Do you think race was an issue at all?” Dhorasoo replied “Yes, maybe there is a relation with my origin because I am not representative of the French society. They could not sell the World Cup with me. Its big business and they have to find in the French team French players who are representative of society, and I am not the right guy.” Dhorasoo later goes on to express the extreme view that football matches should be payed without crowds in order to protect the players from racism.
Dhorasoo’s film is being launched at a time when racism is a hot topic in France. Earlier in the season, Metz were deducted a point and forced to play matches behind closed doors after their fans were found guilt of racially abusing Valenciennes’ Moroccan international defender Abdeslam Ouaddou. (Ouaddou, to his credit, reacted at the time by heading into the crowd to confront his abusers. See the incident here.)
Substitute is released in the UK on May 9, and a preview for the movie can be seen here.
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While Substitute has been hailed by French critics, it has also be satirised for its pretensions. The principle example is found on YouTube, where a spoof video mockingly follows an unidentified footballer through a series of mundane activities including watching him doing a crossword, cleaning his feet, and flicking a light on and off repeatedly.
The parody can be seen here.
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Finally, video evidence of the footballing skills of the former AC Milan, Bordeaux, PSG and Lyon midfielder, Vikash Dhorasoo, can be seen here.
