Category: Documentary
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‘Life of Ryan’ (2014) might not be so dull if it were more truthful
It’s hard to believe that Life of Ryan: Caretaker Manager is from Fulwell 73, the same company that produced Class of ’92 and other good football films.
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Tibet is ‘The Forbidden Team’ (2003) in FIFA
A Dane who spent time in a Tibetan monastery, Michael Nybrandt realizes his dream to organize an international match between Tibet and Greenland. Neither team is recognized by FIFA. China tries to block the game because Tibet is part of China. Greenland’s own application to join FIFA could be jeopardized by playing.
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‘American Pharaoh’ (2014) too often feels like a home movie
American Pharaoh is Hossam Aboul-Magd’s first shot at directing and is a 60 minute documentary for PBS. Hossam is a one-man film crew, following Bradley and his wife Lindsay during their 2 year residency in Cairo. He became their friend, and perhaps that is why the film is so weak.
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‘Next Goal Wins’ (2014) – the original documentary
With Next Goal Wins, the film and its back story are equally interesting. American Samoa is the last place team in FIFA world rankings but is trying to qualify for WC 2014. The American Samoan team has not won a game since 1983 and has been outscored 229-2. In WC 2002 qualifying, they gave up a record 31…
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An ambitious referee in ‘Rättskiparen’ (2010)
Rättskiparen is a short Swedish documentary about Martin Hansson, a former firefighter, divorced with 2 sons, who puts football before everything else in hopes of refereeing at WC 2010.
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Arab Spring got in Bob Bradley’s way in ‘We Must Go’ (2014)
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…
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The FA’s Christian roots in ‘Thank God for Football!’ (2013)
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.
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The blokes and fans of ‘The Class of ’92’ (2013)
The Class of ’92 started when Gary Neville got his old teammates to agree to make a film about their “Class of ’92”, Alex Ferguson’s young guns who went from youth academy to winning the treble in 1999 (FA Cup, EPL, and Champions League). Directors and brothers Gabe and Benjamin Turner, owners of production company…
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The horror and coverup of ‘Hillsborough’ (2014)
It’s fitting to review the ESPN film Hillsborough today, the 26th anniversary of the April 15, 1989 football stadium disaster where 96 Liverpool fans died from suffocation and crush injuries.
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‘Kicking It’ (2008) an entertaining film that matters
Kicking It is a Ted Leonsis production that tries to influence you to do good while wrapping you up in a good story. It is “filmanthropy”, according to Leonsis, a billionaire sports team owner, philanthropist, former AOL executive, and media maven. Leonsis spotted Director Susan Koch $1 million so that she could follow players in…
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Is ‘The Beautiful Game’ (2012) the best way out of Africa?
Producer Julian Cautherly and Director Victor Buhler began working on their Africa10 film project in advance of WC 2010. Their lofty goal was to show how a passion for soccer encourages development and change in Africa. But for those in poverty, soccer is more like a winning lottery ticket out of the country to a better…
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The culture of Argentine ‘Fútbol Violencia, S.A.’ (2009)
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.
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‘Downtown Dawgs’ (2010) – a homeless team honestly portrayed
Brothers Kevin and Mike Scullion originally intended to create a fictional movie about homeless men joining a soccer team. Instead, they ended up documenting the Downtown Dawgs’ journey from a Calgary drop-in shelter to the 2010 Homeless World Cup in South Africa.
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‘This is Not a Ball’ (2014) shows the process of artist Vik Muniz
The documentary This is Not a Ball was made in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup, but it is not really a soccer movie and instead captures the creative process of the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.
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Traveling the world to play pickup ‘Pelada’ (2010)
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.
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‘The Two Escobars’ (2010) explains narco-fútbol
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.
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The 99ers and their ‘Dare to Dream’ (2005)
The HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the US Womens Soccer Team faithfully captures the build up and heartbreak that is US Soccer’s Womens National Team (USWNT). If you are a fan, you need to watch this film. If you watched it when it first came out in 2005 (like I did), you…
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Guy Oliver covers ‘History of Soccer’ (2001) up to the year 2000
The History of Soccer is a terrific compilation of facts and videos. I originally got the first disk from Netflix, and then I found the whole 7-disk set at my library. I’ve often felt clueless when soccer commentator Christopher Sullivan rhapsodized about some historical player during a game, e.g. comparing someone to a Garrincha or a Di…
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‘The Four Year Plan’ (2011) may make you hate QPR
If you watched the end of the 2011-2012 EPL season, you saw the spoiler role QPR almost played in Manchester City’s league championship. And if that were all you knew about Queens Park Rangers, you would have assumed The Four Year Plan was some kind of feel-good Moneyball success story. It’s not.
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Football trafficking in ‘Soccer’s Lost Boys’ (2010)
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.
