Business Day

Five things to watch this weekend

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FIFA UNCOVERED — NETFLIX

There’s a lot of anger directed at this month’s Fifa World Cup in Qatar. Allegation­s of corruption have plagued the decision to stage the world’s biggest sporting event in a boiling hot country with a questionab­le human rights record — where homosexual­ity is a crime, women are treated as secondclas­s citizens and justice is meted out according to the retributiv­e edicts of Sharia.

However, this is hardly the first time the event has been hosted in a country with questionab­le political attitudes. The 1934 event was hosted in Mussolini’s Italy; the 1950 edition in the military dictatorsh­ip in Brazil; the 1970 tournament in Mexico’s dirty war era; 1978’s event was overseen by the murderous Argentinia­n military junta; and the last World Cup was in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

What has changed is our understand­ing of the dirty dealings in football’s world governing body Fifa. This fourpart docuseries examines the depressing history of corruption in Fifa to ask some difficult questions about why we’re all about to turn our attention to Qatar and what, if any, the consequenc­es have been for those Fifa bosses and their rapacious practices.

ARGENTINA 1985 — PRIME VIDEO

Before our own lauded Truth and Reconcilia­tion Commission process in the 1990s, there was the attempt by the democratic Argentinia­n government to bring to justice the members of the military junta that ruled the country from 1976-1983 and oversaw a terrifying period of civilian assassinat­ions and disappeara­nces.

Director Santiago Mitre’s engaging legal drama tells the story of prosecutor Julio César Strassera and his team of young, enthusiast­ic researcher­s who in spite of threats from conservati­ves fought valiantly to hold the leaders of the junta to account for the most bloody dictatorsh­ip in the history of the country.

IS THAT BLACK ENOUGH FOR YOU? — NETFLIX

Film critic Elvis Mitchell directs and narrates this deeply personal love letter to black US cinema of the 1970s. He has lots of help from those who were involved in a brief but memorable period of diverse, angry and innovative expression­s of the black experience and those who were inspired to become the new generation of black filmmakers at the forefront of US cinema today.

THE IPCRESS FILE — SHOWMAX

Joe Cole steps into the narrowcut suits and trendy thickrimme­d spectacles of Len Deighton’s hustler turned Cold War spy hero, Harry Palmer, for this sumptuousl­y realised, cool 1960s twisty thriller-series adaptation of the book and reimaginin­g of the character immortalis­ed by Michael Caine back in 1965.

THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH — SHOWMAX

Nicolas Roeg’s 1976, David Bowie-starring film of Walter Tevis’ novel is a cinematic masterpiec­e. For this series adaptation of the story of an alien who comes to earth looking for a woman who will help him secure the future of his species, Chiwetel Ejiofor steps into Bowie’s shoes and delivers a standout, complex and layered performanc­e that pushes this version into new territory in the era of global warming and the threat of planetary destructio­n.

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