King Otto

We knew the ending, we remember as a family watching Greece play the tournament and still this documentary made up cheer, clap and shout like we were watching it live again.

This documentary isn't a story about a national team winning a trophy. It's an excellent example of how an unbalanced team can regain balance by discipline and believing in themselves, controlling their feelings and achieving the unthinkable worldwide. This national team offered the world the sense that nothing is impossible to achieve. Most media press criticised their gameplay, even their great achievement, not because they were jealous but because they never thought that a national team so disoriented would become ready to fight by all means with every opponent. Don't get me wrong; it's not easy to achieve the same thing twice. You have only one change. And this national team nailed it.

An incredible film of an underdog story that will warm your heart. It has a different feel from a usual sports doc, it's much more intelligently done.

King Otto will resonate with you beyond the typical sports documentary experience. Capturing the depth & cultural significance of Greece's 2004 Euro Cup victory lead by German coach Otto Rehhagel, director Christopher André Marks creates a powerful narrative that is at the intersection of sports, culture and heartfelt storytelling.

It's important to note, that it took a Greek-American, brought up in the United States, with an allegiance to & a profound love for Greece to tell this story 17 years after the Greek National team's Euro Cup victory.

Whether you're Greek or not, whether you like sports documentaries or not, King Otto is for everyone. I also understand that Christopher André Marks has a lot more to offer outside the genre of sports documentaries. Wishing him all the very best with his future projects.

I still remember it vividly when Greece stunned Europe or even the world when winning this in 2004. I'll tell 100% the truth, I wasn't an admirer of their tactics, more so at the time, but as I've grown up I realise that it was their only chance of playing a decent game against most teams, let alone winning them. There's no fluke about beating Portugal twice IN Portugal, drawing against Spain, beating the reigning World Cup and European Championship holders, France and a very decent Czech Republic side. I also seen how much more arrogant and unfairly the media were towards them than I did at the time, especially the English media and pundits. Sour grapes.

As the saying goes: You can only play with the cards you're dealt with and at the end of the day, all that matters is the final-score.