Values Made of Paper

I love watching shows and films on Netflix. I enjoy watching so much that the moment our television broke, we even bought a projector for our home. It turned out to be a great investment before the pandemic, and we got plenty of use out of it.

One of the true-story series I watched most recently, completely unexpectedly, made me think a great deal about the power of our values. The series is called “Bernard Tapie: An Extraordinary Life.” It follows an ambitious, daring man from the working class in France who managed to rise above his class and who would do anything to win. Following his life makes your head spin. When everything is going well, the plot can turn upside down in an instant. I suppose that’s why the title calls its protagonist “extraordinary.”

But more than Tapie’s financial success and wealth, what caught my attention most was how meaningful, and how humbling, a person’s dignified stand can be in the face of a powerful man whose name was even mentioned as a presidential candidate. Here is what happens: in 1993, Tapie is the president of the football club Olympique de Marseille, and at a moment when his self-confidence is at its peak, simply to reduce risks, he offers a bribe to three players of the Valenciennes team. After this offer, for a while you watch the psychological collapse of the footballer Christophe Robert in particular. Christophe cannot bear the weight of betraying his team, himself and his values, and, unsurprisingly for the viewer, confesses to the prosecutor in charge. And that is how everyone came to hear of the biggest bribery scandal in football history.