"Voy! Voy! Voy!", Egypt's entry for this year's Oscars, is a story about football, emigration, and spur-of-the-moment inspiration that is sure to enliven even the most non-sports-oriented spectators.
Setting: Egypt in the 2010s. The country is going through a severe employment crisis, and almost everyone wants to get to Europe, with or without a visa. Hassan is no exception. He is a doorman at an office building and still lives in his childhood apartment with his mother. Through a series of schemes, he ends up playing for the national blind football team, which is on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup in—luckily—Poland. This, despite the fact that he can see perfectly well.
This is the launching pad for "Voy! Voy! Voy!", the feature film debut of Omar Hilal (inspired by real events that took place in 2015). Led by a charismatic protagonist who seems to be constantly smirking (literally and figuratively—the mustache is an integral part of Hassan’s nervous, yet sly grin), the film smoothly transitions from one act to another through simple but effective narrative dribbles, and has all the elements to captivate. It offers a tender laughter, typical of charming stories that bet on the tacitly miraculous background of everyday reality. The fact that there is always a hint of trouble behind it—the depressing atmosphere of "every man for himself, however he can," perhaps still somewhat familiar in the Romanian context—only adds a welcome depth to the feel-good experience. "Voy! Voy! Voy!" and you.
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