Breaking the Cycle review – meet the charismatic Thai politician striving to change his country’s history

Gripping documentary examines the Future Forward Party’s unprecedented 2019 election result, and its leader’s aim to break Thailand’s repeated military coups With his disarming good looks, pro-democracy activist and businessman Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit resembles an actor rather than a typical Thai politician. Heir to the country’s largest car manufacturer, he is blessed not only with personable charisma but also inexhaustible funds. His stunning rise into public consciousness is the beating heart of Aekaphong Saransate and Thanakrit Duangmaneeporn’s debut film, a thrilling documentary about an extraordinary political campaign that shook a nation. As founder of the progressive Future Forward Party (FFP), Juangroongruangkit’s central message cut through the noise of electoral politics: secure a brighter future by correcting the wrongs of the past. Since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand has undergone a never-ending cycle of military takeovers, including 12 coups. Dur...

Hurst: The First and Only review – misty-eyed football doc reveals the man behind the hat-trick

While too much time is spent on 1966 and all that Matthew Lorenzo’s profile draws out a hitherto unseen vulnerable side to the striker turned insurance salesman

The current flood of football documentaries shows no sign of abating; the recognition certain teams and individuals enjoy means that it’s not likely to any time soon. Geoff Hurst, the hat-trick hero of the 1966 World Cup final, is no doubt a natural subject for the “legacy” strand of these things: along with the likes of Jack Charlton, Bobby Moore and Bobby Robson, Hurst stands for a misty-eyed idea of Proper Football, when men were gods on the pitch and ordinary semi-dwelling blokes off it.

Hurst was all this and more, even if this profile focuses, football-wise at least, on that three-goal game at the expense of almost everything else. (Though that title might need a bit of nudging since Kylian Mbappé pulled off the same feat in 2022.) A rollcall of greats line up to heap praise on his sterling work against West Germany, with Gary Lineker (his nearest equivalent) being particularly enlightening on how Hurst exemplified the striker’s art – it’s all about “percentages”.

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