Death of the Soccer God

The diverting latest from Léger (God Loves Haiti) traces a Haitian soccer hero’s rise and fall. Gilbert Chevalier’s story unfolds in reverse, while he’s facing a firing squad in the late 1950s for an unspecified offense. The son of a well-off businessman, Gilbert adores soccer and uses his endless charm to woo women, including firebrand Aurélie. As a favor to his father, who hopes for a financial windfall, Gilbert marries Elizabeth, the daughter of a rich Nazi hiding in Haiti after WWII, before leaving alone for New York City to study finance at Columbia. While away, Gil promises to focus on his education, but he quickly joins pickup soccer games in Central Park and gets recruited for the 1950 U.S. World Cup team, despite not being an American (“a small technicality,” he’s told). After he scores a game-winning goal against England, he becomes an overnight sensation. As the years pass, he slouches around Europe and his soccer career declines. Called back to Haiti to visit his ailing father, he learns that Elizabeth has taken up with another man, Aurélie is raising his nine-year-old child, and his life is in danger. Léger sustains the momentum with energetic set pieces, which often involve Gilbert’s Zelig-like encounters with celebrities, as when he rescues Miles Davis from an angry spurned lover. It’s a blast. Agent: Christy Fletcher, UTA. (May)