Blue Moon Rising

Blue Moon Rising is a film that follows Manchester City’s 2009/2010 season through the eyes of a set of passionate fans. I had heard about the film a while ago and I was able to catch a showing of the film on FSC over the weekend. The film mainly focuses on a group of friends and City Supporters who travel to every game in a beaten down minivan that they call “Helios”. We get a glimpse of their lives outside of following City such as their careers and girlfriends as well as their game day activities. The entire season is chronicled but the games of focus were the early season match ups with Arsenal and Chelsea at Eastlands, the two legged Carling Cup Semi Final tie with Manchester United and of course the late season battle for 4^th and a Champions League spot against Spurs. In the film there were also interesting interviews with Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez about playing and scoring against their former teams.Another aspect that I enjoyed was the flashback to certain moments in City’s history through the eyes of fans that lived it. A fan would tell a personal story that was intertwined with three games. The 1976 League Cup Final, 1981 FA Cup final and the 1999 Second Division Playoff Final. Each story was told by a different fan and each had a decidedly different feel. . As an American fan, I really don’t have the luxury of being able to point to important moments in my team’s history and tell a story about what I was doing or where I was when it happened, so hearing some personal stories really did give a nice touch. While, I feel that this film can be made about pretty much any long suffering fan base, I really did get a glimpse into the passion that fans have about Manchester City. The film did a great job of having the fans describe their feelings when watching matches. That indescribable pit in the stomach that I have felt when my team was in a big game is something that I hardly ever feel watching other sports. All in all, the film is a good watch and I would recommend it to any soccer fan.