One Night in Turin

Like a meat pie snatched from a stall at a non-league football game, ‘One Night in Turin’ is one of those movies that fills a hole at just the right time: this documentary waxes nostalgic about England’s turbulent Italia ’90 World Cup campaign, neatly slotting in to the pre-hype for the 2010 World Cup. Adapted from the bestselling book ‘All Played Out’ by Pete Davies, this slick film offers some lively context to the improbable rise of Bobby Robson’s loveable rogues – including weeping wunderkind, Gazza – amid a storm of street violence, media harassment and weak lager. It’s a familiar tale, but only the hardest of hearts would dismiss its storytelling gusto and clever use of archive footage. Still, it is marred by a jingoistic undertow, encapsulated by Gary Oldman’s orgasmic narration where every utterance of the word ‘football’ or ‘England’ is coupled with a teary-eyed climax.