Author: MJ-A
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![[Review] ‘Les Bleus: Une Autre Histoire de France’ (2016)](https://soccermoviemom.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/les-bleus.jpg)
[Review] ‘Les Bleus: Une Autre Histoire de France’ (2016)
Les Bleus: Another History of France maps the French football team performance with the nation’s social struggles from 1996-2016. But does the film convey an implicit bias? It is unique in that it does not whitewash the team’s history, and it leaves much to think about.
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A gritty insider’s view of ‘Going Pro: American Soccer’ (2014)
Going Pro: American Soccer is a gritty insider’s view of the young men on the 2012 Brooklyn Knights, then a 4th division amateur PDL team. Director Sebastian Podesta captures tough moments as the Knights struggle to light up the scoreboard. Players aspire to become paid professionals, and a winning record is essential for any of…
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‘The Romanov Revolution’ (2005) – a Russian oligarch story
Evil Russian men come in many stereotypes: dictators, KGB, hackers, hooligans, doping athletes, oligarchs, and football team owners. The Romanov Revolution is a 2005 BBC Frontline Scotland TV documentary about Vladimir Romanov, then new owner of Heart of Midlothian FC, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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A buddy trip through Ireland and its ‘Celtic Soul’ (2016)
Jay Baruchel and Eoin O’Callaghan drive across Ireland in search of Jay’s Irish roots and their shared Celtic Soul. It’s a self-described collection of lovely moments tied together within the larger context of what it means to be an immigrant, to be Irish, and to be a fan of Celtic FC.
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‘Jack to a King’ (2014) – the fans saved Swansea once upon a time
Jack to a King – The Swansea Story is a love song to the supporters of Swansea City AFC, who saved the club from obliteration. Director Marc Evans tells an intricate story of how Swansea survived and then rose to the Premier League.
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Trying to qualify for WC 2010 in ‘Laduma! Benin’s Journey’ (2011)
Part travelogue, part cultural anthropology, and part football history, Director Richard Shepherd’s film Laduma! Benin’s Journey captures an insider’s view as a small African nation tries to qualify for WC 2010.
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‘Russia’s Hooligan Army’ (2017) is painfully real
Thinking of going to WC 2018? Watch Russia’s Hooligan Army. It may change your mind, especially if you are British and male. This BBC TV documentary starts with news footage of the Russian hooligan attacks at Euro 2016. Then, it turns the spigot on full blast in sensationalist interviews with Russian supporters group leaders, who…
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‘The Prize’ (2014) teaches how religion can help athletes
Video evangelism is a soccer movie genre I haven’t reviewed until now. I was contacted by filmmaker Shawn Keith, who created The Prize: Under Pressure for sports chaplains. His 26-minute piece is well-done, interspersing World Cup footage with testimonials by international players. The most well-known of these is Kaká, and Americans will all recognize USMNT…
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Best Soccer Movies for Romance (2018)
Okay, you met this really nice, attractive, athletic, tries hard, never gives up, gets sweaty, male or female on the pitch. You both love soccer. Or, you already have your significant soccer soulmate and Valentine’s Day is coming up.
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Remembering the Zambian NT in ‘Eighteam’ (2014)
As much as I like parts of the film Eighteam, much of it circumnavigates the tragic plane crash that killed almost the entire Zambian National Team on April 27, 1993, off the coast of Gabon.
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Review: ‘San Bernardino Alive and Kicking’ (2016)
Rockerrazzi Filmz makes visual branding videos for up-and-coming rock stars. So I wondered why Producer-Director Jared Sagal created this very good hour-long documentary about SoCal SC, a 4th division soccer team in San Bernardino.
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Soccer Movies When You’re Depressed
Has life got you so far down, you can’t get off the couch? Your significant other left you? Your best friend lost your phone number? Your child wants someone else to be his/her parent? Your parent wants someone else to be his/her child? You’ve been in 4 years of despair with President #45 and he…
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The frenzy of favela futebol in ‘Campo de Jogo’ (2014)
Campo de Jogo (Sunday Ball) is a kinematic metaphor for Brazilian soccer. Director Eryk Rocha lays bare the intense emotions of favela futebol. He assembles a film that is both documentary and cinematic art. It was shown at New York’s MOMA and is similar to, but much better than, the 2006 art piece on Zidane.
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‘The Trophy Thief’ (2015) doesn’t ring true
I’m sorry, but The Trophy Thief did not open my heart. Instead, I feel manipulated, as if the creators are simply playing to sympathies by casting a short-statured soccer player as Ben, the boy who steals an unjustly-awarded MVP trophy.
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Notes: Best and Worst soccer movies in 2016
For my last post of 2016, I’m starting a new feature: a ranked list of all the soccer movie reviews this past year. Most of these were not released in 2016. But I figure newspaper reviewers write about what’s coming out now on DVD, so I’m recognizing the year’s best soccer movie regardless of release date. Within…
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‘Dennis Viollet: A United Man’ (2016) and a Busby Babe survivor
Rachel Viollet’s documentary may have started as a memorial to her father, Dennis Viollet of Manchester United fame. But as she conducted interviews and collected history, her film also became an intriguing record of how the soccer world changed around him and because of him.
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‘I Play Soccer’ (2011) at a Sierra Leone academy
I Play Soccer is a 6-minute short film about the Sierra Leone football academy run by the Craig Bellamy Foundation. By Stefan Lovgren, the film is more advertising than documentary. Like many soccer movies, I learned more from researching the subject than watching this film.
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A Chilean, Peruvian and Argentine meet cute in ‘Lusers’ (2015)
Lusers is a delightful comedy of cultural differences as strangers from 3 countries travel the Amazon basin to the WC 2014 final in Brazil. Each of the trio (a Chilean, a Peruvian and an Argentine) is escaping a personal problem (thus a loser), but the trip presents even more challenges. They wreck their vehicle, are…
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Every sport parent should watch ‘Concussion’ (2015)
This is a public service announcement. Concussion is not a soccer movie, but every soccer parent should watch it. Writer-Director Peter Landesman used to be an investigative reporter, and he brings that kind of intensity to his film. No one watching this movie can stay in denial about the long-term effects of TBI – Traumatic…
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‘Inshallah, Football’ (2010) explains India’s Kashmiri situation
Inshallah, Football touched me, but I wasn’t sure why I felt that way. The answer was so complex, it took me 3 days to research and understand Director Ashvin Kumar’s persuasive documentary about the decades of conflict in Indian administered Kashmir, aka Jammu and Kashmir.
