Green Street Hooligans (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Green Street Hooligans" sets a family drama and coming-of-age tale in the world of football (soccer) hooliganism. Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) was a promising journalism student before he was expelled from Harvard University over his roommate's cocaine stash. Suddenly aimless, Matt wanders to London to visit his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani) and her British husband Steve (Marc Warren). When Matt tags along to a soccer game with Steve's brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam), he finds that there is a lot more to soccer culture than the game on the field. Pete is a member of a football firm or gang called the Green Street Elite (GSE). Firms are organizations of fanatic fans who battle other firms for reputation and dominance -by beating the crap out of each other. Matt is attracted to the high energy, danger, and physicality of the GSE and embraces the lifestyle. But eventually word gets around that he might be a journalist - and hooligans hate coppers and journalists.
I couldn't say how accurately "Green Street Hooligans" represents the dynamics of football firms or the relationships of their members. But the film does provide a window into a subculture that is common in the UK and South America, where soccer reigns supreme, but which Americans may never have heard of. Contrary to the American cocept of gangsters, soccer hooligans are neither Mafioso nor errant youth. They are grown, middle-class men who function perfectly well in normal jobs. But outside of work and domestic obligations, they are completely lawless. They happily adopt a brutality that could leave them dead or maimed in the blink of an eye. "Green Street Hooligans" requires some suspension of disbelief to accept more mundane behavior. Would Steve really send his naïve Yank brother-in-law to a soccer game with his estranged hooligan brother? No. That kind of illogic is common in this film. But the culture of hooliganism, the allure of their violence, is at the same time stupid and fascinating.
The DVD (Warner 2006): "The Making of Hooligans" (6 min) is not about making the movie. It is a series of interviews with actors Elijah Wood, Claire Forlani, Charlie Hunnam, director Lexi Alexander and producer Deborah Del Prete which discuss the characters and the phenomenon of football firms. There is a music video for the song "One Blood" by Terence Jay, which sounds uncannily like the Dire Straits' song "Brother in Arms". Terence Jay also acts in the movie. He plays Matt's elite WASP Harvard roommate, the cokehead. Subtitles for the film are available in English, French, and Spanish.

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A wrongfully expelled Harvard undergrad moves to London, where he is introduced to the violent underworld of soccer hooliganism. DVD Features:Documentary:The Making of HooligansMusic Video:"One Blood" Music Video by Terence Jay

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