Category: Cultural

Soccer fans looking for a way to be part of WC2014, documentarians Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker followed Bob Bradley on his questionably sane task to coach the Egyptian National Team to Brazil. Arab Spring got in the way. The film captures not so much Bradley’s journey, but the journey of Egypt’s young people and…

The FA’s Christian roots in ‘Thank God for Football!’ (2013)

May 7, 2015

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A strong Christian and avid researcher, Peter Lupson published his book Thank God for Football! in 2006. A few years later, he ran into an executive of the Christian Television Association. That heaven-sent meeting resulted in a documentary of the 12 past and present EPL teams that were founded by churches.

The culture of Argentine ‘Fútbol Violencia, S.A.’ (2009)

Nov 10, 2014

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Sometimes I don’t learn much from watching a soccer movie, but it confuses me enough that I research the subject to understand what the movie was really about. Fútbol Violencia S.A. (Football Violence, Inc.) is such a movie.

Traveling the world to play pickup ‘Pelada’ (2010)

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This documentary follows a pair of collegiate players who, unable to make a pro soccer team, channel their competitive-soccer addiction by traveling the world looking for Pelada — not a drug, but a Brazilian word for pick-up game.

Soccer fans bind together in ‘La Gran Final’ (2006)

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in Comedy, Cultural, Drama

Soccer cannot unite the world. But for a few hours, the motivation to watch a game allows people to set aside their differences. La Gran Final is a triptych of disappearing cultures joining with the modern forces that swallow them, to watch, with ebullient shared enthusiasm, the 2000 World Cup Final of Germany versus Brazil.

‘Bend It Like Beckham’ (2002) tops soccer movie box office

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in Cultural, Romance

Bend It Like Beckham proves that when a story is close to the heart, it can make an outstanding soccer movie and family film. At $78M, BILB is probably the top-grossing soccer movie of all time (made for ~$7M).

‘The Two Escobars’ (2010) explains narco-fútbol

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For its 30th anniversary, ESPN commissioned 30 respected filmmakers to produce 30 documentaries on the impact of sports on society. 30 for 30: The Two Escobars is the fascinating story of player Andrés Escobar and druglord Pablo Escobar.

Football trafficking in ‘Soccer’s Lost Boys’ (2010)

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Soccer’s Lost Boys is an evocative documentary about soccer trafficking in Africa. Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller interviews players, parents, and coaches to show how West African families hand over life savings to agents who promise a tryout in Europe.

‘Offside’ (2006) – what if women could attend a game in Iran?

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in Cultural, Drama

In the USA, we take our freedoms for granted, but what if we, as women, were not allowed to enter a stadium? Offside takes place at an actual 2006 World Cup qualifying match in Tehran, where women disguise themselves to get in.

Young monks get to watch ‘The Cup’ (1999)

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in Comedy, Cultural

You don’t expect much to happen in a Buddhist monastery. So it is not surprising that Phörpa (The Cup) is very slow paced. A spirited young soccer-obsessed monk defies the monastery’s way of life in order to watch World Cup 1998. But the abbot, although he does not understand why men fight over a ball…

‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ (2007) British Hindu issues

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