Goal II: Living the Dream

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Goal II's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Goal II completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 25 May 2008.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Goal II contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Goal II: Living the Dream picks up where Goal! left off. Santiago (Kuno Becker) and Roz (Anna Friel) have just bought a beautiful home together and are making arrangements for their upcoming marriage. Santiago is at the top of his game and has completely won over Newcastle United. Santiago learns that Real Madrid have their eye on him and are trying to sign him to their prestigious team which, despite an illustrious track record, in recent months has not been doing well.

Santiago is thrilled when he is signed on and begins playing for the Spanish team. He buys a mansion in Madrid, is given a Lamborghini, wears the best designer clothes, and slowly discovers all the ‘perks’ of his profession. Roz is unimpressed with all the extras and continues to commute from England where she still works as a nurse.

Despite trying to do the right thing, Santiago grows more and more accustomed to his new lifestyle. He begins to lose sight of what is truly important and he slowly watches his personal life unravel. His relationship with Roz is on the rocks thanks to the flirtatious advances of Jordana Garcia (Leonor Varela) a well known talk show hostess, his manager Glen Foy (Stephen Dillane) resigns and a young boy Enrique (Jorge Jurado) shows up one day claiming to be his brother. Enrique shows Santiago a photo of his own mother Rosa (Elizabeth Pena) who had abandoned Santiago as a child. Attempting to come to terms with all the pressures and changes, Santiago hits an all time low but is determined to make it to the top again.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Family and relationship breakdown; the pressures of celebrity

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

• Players get tripped and knocked down during matches.
• Players display hostility towards opposing teams.
• Enrique steals Santiago’s Lamborghini and drives at high speeds through the city where he causes numerous accidents. He eventually crashes into a stall.
• Santiago threatens a reporter. He later attacks him, knocking him down and kicks and smashes his camera.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• Enrique is very upset and angry and steals Santiago’s car. Racing at high speeds through the city streets. He comes very close to killing people on more than one occasion and looks as though he is beginning to panic as he speeds around curves without slowing down. Eventually he looses control of the car and crashes into a stall that collapses in around him. He is lifted from the wreck, bleeding and unconscious by Santiago who then rushes him to the hospital. It is quite some time before we know how bad his injuries are. Some children could be upset by seeing Enrique distraught and then nearly getting killed.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Some children in this age group may also be disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

• Adidas (hats, bags, thongs, uniforms, shoes, etc)
• Dolce (Santiago wears a Dolce suit)
• Versace and Prado are also mentioned
• Siemens (all the players appear to wear shirts with this logo)
• Santiago drives a Lamborghini and all the players drive very expensive cars
• Heineken (banners are often seen in the background at matches.)

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• At a party a group of girls discuss Santiago’s “ass”. One girl describes how she “wants him.”

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• Roz talks to Santiago wearing some fancy underwear and a small shirt that reveals a bit of cleavage as well as some of her bra.
• Roz and Santiago are seen kissing passionately and breathing heavily as they roll about in the sheets. When Roz gets up viewers can see her nude silhouette. She then loosely ties a short robe (showing legs and cleavage) and stands in the morning sun.
• Roz often wears short skirts and plunging tops that reveal a fair amount of thigh and cleavage. Other girls at parties are similarly dressed.
• Girls at a party wear skimpy bikinis.
• Roz falls back onto a bed with her bare legs in the air. Santiago lands on top of her.
• Two prostitutes in tight, skimpy, clothes and fish-net tights heckle Roz as she walks by.
• Two team mates take Santiago’s towel and push him out of a lift into the crowded lobby of a hotel completely naked.
• Santiago and Jordana kiss passionately at a New Year’s party. Santiago looks guilty in the morning and Gavin doesn’t believe his claims that “nothing happened.”
• Two women kiss at a party.
• A team mate serves Santiago breakfast wearing underwear.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Alcohol, including wine, beer and champagne is frequently served and consumed throughout the film.
• Santiago and Jordana knock back shots of tequila in a bar.
• There are drinking games at a party. People drinking wine are playing spin the bottle and kissing people while wearing a blindfold.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• “Shit”, “God damn”, “hell”, “stupid” and “idiot”.

The movie's message

Goal II: Living the Dream is a dramatic film with much of the action taking place on the football field. While some audiences may find aspects that they enjoy, the film will most likely appeal to soccer fans and adolescent boys.

The main message from this movie is not to lose sight of what is really important in life and that fame and fortune are hollow without the love and support of family and true friends.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• teamwork
• cooperation
• loyalty
• forgiveness

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• getting caught up in money and celebrity
• stealing a car and driving dangerously