The Final Kick

On the 17th July 1994, one of the largest audiences in television history gathered in front of their TV screens when Romario kicked off the World Cup final between the Brazilian and Italian football teams. Two billion people watched this dramatic duel until Roberto Baggio ran up for The Final Kick... To document this global event, local cameramen filmed simultaneously in altogether 40 countries – probably a unique undertaking. The documentary film The Final Kick combines the tense moments of the match with the reactions of TV viewers throughout the world – at a monastery in Prague, for example, in front of a large screen at Beijing´s main station, in the Harem of Cameroon´s most popular singer (with his 50 wives), in a prison in Minsk, at a reindeer farm in Lapland, at Rio´s Copacabana, in a Turin cantina, at an oasis in the Sultanate of Oman and at many other locations. The emotional reactions of all these TV viewers intensify during the course of the match to become a unique global ritual, culminating in the nailbiting penalty shoot-out.