Is
it a glorified advert for Manchester United? Not really. Is it a fan film? Not
exactly. Is it a film about brotherhood and the love for football? Definitely.
Class of ’92 is Benjamin and Gabe Turner’s homage to team-play. That they manage to rope in six football stars that started playing together and were victorious together at an international level is just the icing on the cake.
David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, and Phil Neville; all six of them started together with Manchester United in 1992 and over the next seven years catapulted the team into a strong unit that eventually led to them winning the European Cup. The documentary isn’t really about football. It’s not even about the club. Rather, it looks at the lives of these six players on an individual level, partially, but more so on how they became lifelong friends and have stayed that way through the various stages of their lives. The focus of course remains on the players reminiscing about the events during those seven years that made these boys into men.
Class of ’92 shows a different side of players who have achieved worldwide star status. At home, between friends, they are down to earth and humble, and the brotherhood that exists till this day between them forms the basis of their success in the game and various others fields of life.
While the interviews with the players give us an inside look at the workings of a team, it is the cameos from the likes of Eric Catona, Tony Blair, Danny Boyle, and Zinedine Zidane, that give us another point of view, that of the audience or fellow players and their response to how the team was performing during that particular period.
Class of ’92 is about what the game meant to the people who played it and the importance of team and camaraderie between the players. It stays clear of scandals and unnecessary gossip, but doesn’t hide away from the players opening up about the various “mistakes” they made in their professional and personal lives at the time.
The documentary is a must for any fan of the sport irrespective of whether you support the team of like the players featured in it. It’s a charming character study that is sure to warm you up towards the game that is loved by millions around the world. Rating 4.5/5 PS: Please note that I do not "support" Manchester United or any other team for that matter.
