Netflix’s Scores with “The Beautiful Game” a Feel-Good True Story 

Brianna Tillie

The Homeless World Cup, founded in 2001, is an annual international soccer tournament that brings together teams of people who have experienced homelessness from around the world. The tournament aims to use the sport to empower participants, raise awareness about homelessness and promote social inclusion. Participants in the Homeless World Cup come from diverse backgrounds and have faced various challenges, including addiction, poverty and marginalization. This hidden gem of a social organization served as the source of inspiration for a newly released sports drama.

On March 29, Netflix released “The Beautiful Game”. This heartwarming feel-good film brings awareness to the Homeless World Cup by following the story of a character named Vinny, a homeless man with a talent for soccer who is recruited to join England’s Homeless World Cup team.

While the film is touching in several ways, the main character, Vinny, is such an unlikeable character that it is difficult to root for him even though the film seems to want the audience to root for him. Vinny’s biggest character flaw is his arrogance, which is constantly thrown in the face of the viewer. At the beginning of the film, Vinny denies even being homeless. But when the team manager Mal follows Vinny out to his car and sees that Vinny is too proud to admit he’s been living out of it, he simply hands Vinny his phone number.

Once Vinny is on the team, it is needless to say that he sees his teammates as being beneath him and he treats them as such. Though the other characters do call this out, it does not appear that Vinny was held properly accountable or showed appropriate remorse for his behavior. Even when the film suggests that one cruel comment made by Vinny causes one player to quit the team. 

What makes Vinny’s character somewhat redeemable however is towards the end of the film, it is revealed that Vinny is the way that he is not because of extreme confidence, but extreme brokenness. Vinny was supposed to be a professional soccer player and he believed he had it all, only to be told he was not good enough. He was “one of the ones to not make it.”

 This adds a layer of complexity to Vinny’s character and exposes why Vinny was so haughty in his attitude, especially towards his teammates. With one being a drug addict, one being a gambler and one being a neglectful father, Vinny truly did see himself as above them even though they were all homeless. While this does not excuse the poor behavior of Vinny, it does communicate to viewers the lesson that things may not always be what they seem and sometimes a grandiose and pompous individual is really a deeply insecure and dissatisfied one. 

Aside from the film’s complicated main character, “The Beautiful Game” sends such an optimistic message. In the film, the participants of the “Homeless World Cup” consist largely of individuals who have lost their way in life. But instead of succumbing to despair, they are trying to get back on course and redevelop a sense of purpose through this soccer team. This communicates the message that no matter how low it seems that life has fallen and the temptation to give up all hope seems especially appealing, the choice always exists to choose a more positive option and make something better of oneself.