I calcianti

Better brawl in Florence with EUROVISION star Alex Sparrow

This Russian-Italian action comedy is not to be confused with the 2010 documentary of the same name by LuigiMaria Perotti and Rovero Impiglia, about the football-like Calcio Storico that is played once a year in Florence. In this brutal version of football, which dates back to the Middle Ages, 27 men fight for a ball that can be kicked into the goal with their hands and feet. Everything is allowed, so there are always injuries among the teams from the Florentine districts.

In the action comedy by Stefano Lorenzi from 2015, the Russian singer and actor Alexei Vorobyov (internationally he goes by Alex Sparrow) can flex his well-trained muscles as the Florentine bully Sergio. Alex Sparrow became known as a participant in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, which took place in beautiful Düsseldorf after Lena Meyer-Landrut's phenomenal victory in Oslo. The smart Russian interpreted his upbeat dance song "Get You" and achieved a respectable seventh place, at least in the televoting. However, the juries of the individual countries gave the blonde heartthrob significantly fewer points. Alex Sparrow, who was born in 1988, has now firmly established himself as an actor and can now also be seen in the Netflix series "Space Force".

The Italian actor Guido Caprino (born 1974) is also there as a tough whipping boy as "Bimbo". He is known from the outstanding political series "1992 - 1994" (since 2015) and "Miracolo - A Miracle" (2018), which are absolutely worth seeing.

The film premiered on June 21, 2015 at the Moscow Film Festival and can primarily be seen in Russia.