Machan

Manoj, a bartender in Colombo, and Stanley, a fruit vendor, are looking for a way west, but their visa applications keep being refused. Seeing an invitation to a handball tournament in Bavaria, they declare themselves the Sri Lanka National Handball Team. None of them knows what handball is. The film is not interested in the cleverness of the fraud. It is interested in having no choice but to leave: it makes nobody a hero and does not hide what becomes of those left behind. The comedy cools as it goes. The form is ensemble comedy: the streets of Colombo, fake training sessions, the embassy queue and a short tournament section in Germany. The story is not invented. In 2004 a fake Sri Lankan handball team travelled to Germany through the Asian-German Sports Exchange Programme, lost every match and then disappeared. Until that day the country had not had a single handball team. It is Uberto Pasolini's first film as director. He had previously produced The Full Monty; here he shot in Sri Lanka and built the cast largely from non-professionals. Who it is for: viewers who like migration stories drawn from real events and bittersweet comedy. Who it is not for: anyone who wants to know everyone in a crowded cast. Half of the ten-man team stays a name and nothing more.