We're all sick with football. During the period of football fever that swept the planet, movies about the great game are remembered. They, by the way, are not few, and among them are beautiful sports dramas (“United. Munich tragedy”), and high-profile large-scale projects (“Goal!”), but today I want to talk about Soviet cinema.
In 1975, the comedy “First Swallow” was released by the studio “Georgia-film”. This is a story about those times when football has not yet become a big business, but was a real passion: in the early twentieth century, the first football team “Swallow” was created in the city of Poti. A group of citizens is already fond of the “leg” ball and spends all their free time in games where married against singles. Comic situations and ridiculous, from the height of today, matches, where players run around the field in shoes, Circassians and boots can not but please the viewer. Passion for the game turns funny confrontations into a desire to create a real team, but this same passion jeopardizes the family life of many heroes, as men are now completely absorbed in the game.
There is some naivety and sincerity in this film, but it is not without self-irony. This is manifested in the story of the red armband on Jason's right leg, which warns that the blow is fatal; in the story of the same Jason's love for a French singer; in the episode with a fake win. In this film there is something that makes you believe what is happening on the screen – the spirit of sports excitement. Starting from training on the seaside and ending with the first victories of “Swallow” – all this is told with an inimitable intonation that Georgian filmmakers were able to give the film.
Dodo Abashidze’s beautiful acting work makes the film lively and very human – without a touch of caricature or farce. His talent turns Jason into a central character in the history of the team, whose charisma infects the viewer with the excitement of competition and love for football. Dodo Abashidze played in such iconic films as “The Tree of Desire” by Tengiz Abuladze, “Listopad” by Otar Ioseliani, “Don’t Grieve” by Georgy Daneliya – films that have received recognition not only from domestic cinema, but also from the world film community. His participation in the "First Swallow" does not aggravate the action, on the contrary, he is so organic in the role of a football fanatic who abandoned his grocery store and left a grumpy one for the team.
Other images are spelled out with no less brightness, although, of course, they are inferior to the killer bombardier Jason: Hvicha performed by Vaso Nadara, Varlam - Hippolyte Khvichia, Bikenty - Taras Khorava and others. The undoubted decoration of the film was the young Iya Ninidze in the role of Elena, who brings a lyrical note to the narrative, balancing the obvious sarcasm of the storyline of Esmeralda (Laura Vartanyan).
The biggest surprise associated with the “First Swallow”, which may arise from the viewer, is the name of the director – Nana Mchedlidze. It's really unexpected that a film about a corporate men's operation to create the city's first football team was made by a woman. But, perhaps, it is her wise look that helps the viewer understand that the final episode of this tape symbolizes not the collapse of all hopes, but a hint that the sports future opened up before the Swallow will be full of the most exciting impressions, among which there will be room for victories, and, unfortunately, for defeats.