DRAMA:

Based on the extraordinary true story of Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann [ David Kross], non-football fans can rest easy; The Keeper is written with a broad audience in mind and isn’t really a football film, more a romantic historical drama with some iconic football moments thrown in.

Trautmann was a German POW in England at the end of World War II and, much to his surprise, was recruited into a local football team in desperate need of a goalie. As you can imagine, this didn’t go down well with the locals, the team or the coach’s daughter, Margaret [Freya Mavor]. There isn’t much surprise when romance blossoms, but there is at the end of the football season when Trautmann is asked to try out as goalkeeper for Manchester City. It’s a position he holds from 1949 until 1964, during which time he becomes a legend after playing in the 1956 FA Cup Final.

Heartfelt and handsomely shot the subject matter makes for an enjoyable film, especially in finding out how a German POW became an English football hero, so soon after the war.

SOURCE: – Francesca Rudkin, NZ Herald, July 2019