"Weekend Rebels" - Why a Father and Son Decided to Visit Every Bundesliga Team

I have a past where I was planning my son's stadium debut.

I had decided that his first stadium would be the Ibaraki Kashima Soccer Stadium.
I felt that the experience had to be dramatic and moving.

In this movie, there is a scene where he is teased by a classmate who says,
"Your favorite team is decided from the moment you're in the cradle, so if you don't have one, you must have fallen out of your cradle! Hahaha."

In Germany, it is standard for your favorite team to be the one from your birthplace or the local team in the area where you currently live.

Although I live in Tokyo, my favorite team is not FC Tokyo, Tokyo Verdy, or Machida Zelvia, but Kashima Antlers.

Therefore, the first stadium my son sets foot in must be the Ibaraki Kashima Soccer Stadium.
(There is a punchline to this story: while I was busy calculating the day of his stadium debut, my wife took him to the National Stadium (I recall it was a Verdy vs. Jubilo match).)

In my case, the stadium I should go to was decided, but the protagonist of this movie, "I," ended up going to see all 56 professional soccer teams in Germany, from the first to the third division of the Bundesliga.

Why must he see every stadium?

The answer can be understood immediately upon watching this movie.

The protagonist, "I," has autism.

I thought I knew a little about autism, but after watching the movie, I had no choice but to be ashamed of how superficial my knowledge was.
Since the symptoms of autism are not uniform, one should not think that they understand autism just because they know the symptoms of one person.

To be free from prejudice, one must know,
and one must continue to update their understanding day by day.

At the beginning of the movie, there is a scene where the boy, on his way to school, falls into a panic because an old woman is sitting on his usual bench at the bus stop.

The old woman, asked if she could give up her seat to his son, refuses the request.

She says, "Why doesn't he just sit in an empty seat?"
It is a perfectly reasonable argument, and the old woman is not at fault.
She arrived at the bus stop first and was just sitting on an empty bench.
She has no obligation to move.

Then, the old woman even gives advice to the father (Papa), who is running around in a panic because his son is having a meltdown:
"You should discipline him properly!"

Now it was the father's turn to snap.
He says, "My son has autism! Wouldn't it have been fine to just slide over 50 centimeters? It's just that much!"

In this way, the fastidiousness—or rather, the inflexibility—of an autistic child causes trouble wherever they go.

"Oh, it's fine, don't worry about it"
The father is run ragged by the inconvenience of such phrases not working.

In the film, "I" shriek "Solve it!" many times,

and the words "Solve it yourself!" almost came to my throat.

Even though struggling with unsolvable problems is a characteristic of this condition.

Neurotypical people are in the majority, and if told "Oh, it's fine," they can concede by saying,
"Oh, I guess it's fine."

Therefore, when facing autism, the "tolerance of the majority" is tested, as is one's own negative capability (the ability to leave problems unresolved).

The boy suffers from a condition where his negative capability is reduced to zero. A major characteristic of autism is the inability to leave anything ambiguous.

When you cannot ask the other person to compromise, how tolerant can you be?

The "Dad," who had been busy with work and left the care of his son to his wife, decides to face his son properly, even requesting a transfer at work to do so.

And so, they set out to visit the stadiums of every professional team in Germany, but finding a favorite team that follows "my" rules is not easy at all.

Rules decided by "me," for example,
that their cleats aren't flashy,
that they don't form a huddle,
that they are sustainable, etc.

Based on a true story, the promise between father and son to see and verify every soccer team is said to still be ongoing today.

"Me and My Dad" likely repeat the cycle of causing trouble wherever they go, enduring difficulties, and bearing the friction between themselves and society.

"Why can't you tolerate such a trivial thing?"
is likely something they are often thought.
But autism is a condition where one "cannot tolerate trivial things."

I believe it is important to actively learn about autism, and tolerance is required.
Like the episode at the bus stop bench introduced at the beginning,
we need the tolerance to smile and give up a seat to a child who comes along later and screams, "That's my seat!"

It is also necessary to know that the other person suffers from a condition where they cannot ignore trivial things.
And it is also necessary to realize that we are forming a society together with such people.

In that sense, it was very meaningful to be able to learn about one of the characteristics of autism and how to interact with it while enjoying the entertainment of a film.

On the other hand, the majority of neurotypical people tend to think that everyone should be like them!
Whether someone is different because of an illness,
because of their religion,
because of their nationality,
or because of their race,
people tend to think, 'Those guys are weird,' simply because they are different from themselves.

From bullying in schools to discrimination against foreigners, we are not good at leaving things that are different as they are.

Since we are the majority, we tend to think that 'the other person is wrong.'
For example, saying,
'Autism is just being selfish.'

To the majority, people with autism appear to be outsiders.

Autism, which cannot tolerate minor differences.
Neurotypical people, who want to exclude those who are different from themselves.

Let's cultivate the ability to leave different things as they are—negative capability!

That is the first step toward diversity.

I feel like this film is trying to convey that message.

Here is the trailer. Please take a look if you are interested.