The Cat's Meow: Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait (Gordon, Parreno, 2006)

In The Cat’s Meow, I hope to discuss whatever football related films I have seen or books I have read, with you, my readers. These particular books or films do not have to be very recent. If you have seen or read the film or book on hand, please tell me what you thought of it in the comments. Tips are also very welcome.

After Zinedine Zidane was sent off in the world cup final, the image of his slow descend into the catacombs of the Olympiastadium in Berlin made one thing very clear to many; nobody, at this particular point in time, could have possibly felt more lonely than Zidane. Because being alone is not just about being deprived of company. It is also about being deprived of understanding. And nobody, at that point, understood why Zidane was walking by the cup which was made by one of his compatriots and named after another.

In the months after, the thirst for insight was only partially quenched. The semi-apology, the countless hours of punditry and journalism that were devoted to it. Nike mocked the Adidas star in a commercial. But for the multimedia frenzy of attention that followed the incident, nothing provided a better insight than Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait. It is a film by Scottish filmmaker and, above anything else, it reveals one thing about Zinedine Zidane.

Zidane loved being alone.

The seventeen cameramen positioned especially for this film during Madrid’s home game against Villarreal received very simple instructions: follow Zidane. For almost ninety minutes, he can be seen (and heard) dragging his feet over the pitch, and all of a sudden it all becomes very clear. On the pitch, like while walking into the catacombs minutes before the final whistle of a world cup final, Zidane prefers to be alone, even when among eighty thousand football fans and twenty-one of his collegues. On the pitch, he does not need company. On the stairs towards the tunnel, in the last moments of his career, he did not need to be understood.