While on a flight, I stumbled upon a German movie that is VERY interesting. It's called "Das Wunder von Bern" ("The Miracle of Berne"). This is a must-see for soccer fans, especially fans who are interested in World Cup history. They made this movie in memory of Rahn, who passed away a few months ago. This is a movie, not a documentary. It has a story line about a ball boy who treated Helmut Rahn as a father figure, because his own father had been a POW in Russia. And Rahn treated the boy as a lucky mascot because "when the boy's there, he always wins the big games". Of course, the storyline is junk. I think they made up a BS storyline just to show the historical event in Berne, much like the storyline for the Titanic. So the biggest game for Rahn of course was the 1954 World Cup final. They re-enact all the highlights of the game. And much to my surprise, the re-enactment was pretty much close to the truth, except Rahn's tying goal. In the movie, Rahn shot the ball into an empty net from a corner, while in reality, there were 2 Hungarian defenders on the goalline. It's funny to see all these legends, particularly Puskas and Hideguti, played by actors. I think the movie was shot at the original stadium at Berne. The landscape is pretty much similar. There was even a full crowd. My only complaint is that in the movie, the fence between the crowd and the pitch is an ugly wooden fence, while in truth, it's not. Besides Rahn, the boy and his father, one of the major characters in the movie was Sepp Herberger. There is substantial coverage of Herberger dealing with the press and his players, which is something I didn't see on "German Giants", the official film of World Cup 1954. Another sub-plot was Rahn not being a starter in the first round, that Fritz Walter convinced Herberger to start Rahn, his roommate, in Bernie Klodt's place. The rest is history. This is a brand new release, but this movie definitely belongs to ESPN Classics, much more so than "Victory".
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=77948 Some of us talked about this in this thread-has a link to the film which is interesting.
All German reviews i read emphasize (in a positive way) that the world cup is just secondary to the storyline.
I doubt it, the old Wankdorf stadium was torn down in 2001. A new stadium is being built in its place (completion in 2005). The old historical Wankdorf-Stadion The new Stade de Suisse Wankdorf
Stade de Suisse Wankdorf The Stade de Suisse (32,000) will be one of the host stadiums for Euro 2008...
My german is so-so, but I from what I make out here, I think there is some of the old stadium used with some digital stuff as well. Yes? It does mention that unlike a lot of sport films, the action in this is well done-they all run, look, shoot, etc, like actual players.
Do the German players all look relieved when the ref pulls back Puskas' winner for a non-existent offside? Or when the Swiss stormtroopers harass the Hungarians before the game and won't let them in the stadium? Or when Puskas comes in the German lockerroom after the game, and finds it smelling like a methlab with players puking everywhere? Wouldn't want a socialist team winning the world cup in Switzerland, now would we? Hooray for Adi Dassler and capitalism! Best part of the official WC54 video? When the Hungarian goalkeeper (Grocsis?) appears to headbutt the referee after the game. Hey its only been 50 years. I'll eventually get over it.