The documentary Kids Cup (original title is Bortebane) follows 5 young footballers, ages 13-14, as they prepare for, compete, win, and lose in a huge international youth tournament known as the Norway Cup. If you’ve ever played in or taken your child to a travel tournament, as we call it in the USA, you and your family will enjoy watching this film and reliving such an experience.
These 5 footballers are not necessarily future pros, but they definitely all want to win — they don’t seem to be at the Norway Cup for the travel experience (which is kind of a shame, really). The players are from different countries, and their backgrounds and stories vary, but in the end, competitive athletes all react to losing in the same way.
The Story
Bortebane is a first feature length film for Writer-Director Line Hatland, but with her years of experience in TV, the stories are well assembled, and for each player she finds an interesting backstory.
Anna from Alesund, Norway is a perfectionist. Her dad trains her individually and is also her club coach at SK HERD. The toughest moment of the film is when she misses her PK in the final game shootout.
Khalidi is from Philadelphia but plays for a Tanzanian team because that’s his father’s country. His strict, demanding father has a wasted leg and pushes Khalidi to become the pro that he himself could not be. Khalidi is very tall but clearly kinda slow. It is only at the end that he finally shows some defiance and hangs up on a nagging phone call from his Dad.
Zhang Yu is from Chengdu, China. Her father has passed away, and her fight is not just on the field, but to control her emotions at all times.
Fred is from Rio de Janeiro and his blond tips make him the cutest guy on his team. But he also doesn’t play much and doesn’t even get off the bench in the final that they win 6-0 (what a terrible coach). Still, he seems valuable to his teammates as a girl-magnet. Instead of exchanging phone numbers, kids break the ice by following each other on social media.
Afnan’s team is from Jerusalem but her team is Palestinian. She is always afraid her brother and father will be arrested back home. In the end, Afnan says the thing she will remember most is the relationships she developed in the tournament.
The kids all get to stick around until the tournament ends, and they dress up for the final dance party. There is also a lot of footage of the tournament in general, such as the fields, the dormitories and sleeping arrangements, the dining halls and the food. The Chinese and Palestinian teams learn to enjoy junk food.
The Film
I always wonder why films get made, and this film more so than others. Because it would have cost a bit of money to film these players in their home countries, preparing for the tournament. And they would have had to record a lot of game film to get the footage they used.
In addition, a common challenge for embedded ethnographic sports documentaries is that you follow the best characters. Either Director Hatland was lucky or an extremely good prognosticator, but the 5 players and teams she filmed generally performed well in the tournament, with one team winning the championship.
There is not much in the film about the coaching or the fans, except to show how those people affect the players.
There is a bit of soccer, but with above-average 13-14 year olds, it’s not going to be stirring play. Even the shootout focuses on the players’ reactions rather than the kicks themselves. It’s interesting that the trailer shows so much football action when the film is really about how the kids experience the tournament and the travel. BTW, according to my Swedish friend virre_linwendil, Bortebane refers to traveling away to a game, in this case a tournament.
Note that this tournament took place in August 2019, and the film’s release was delayed by the pandemic. Because I could find no information about the players (which is a good thing, from a privacy standpoint), I could not find out if any of them progressed in soccer. Maybe they will read this and let me know how they turned out. 🙂
In Conclusion
This is the third film I’ve watched about such large or international youth tournaments, although the other 2 films are narratives. For these reviews, see The Falcons, which takes place in Iceland, and Forever, which takes place at Sweden’s Gothia Cup.
Kids Cup (Bortebane) is an enjoyable family film depicting how young teenagers experience a trip away to a large youth tournament. My husband really enjoyed reliving youth tournaments in this film. I can’t speak for 13-14 year olds, but maybe they would enjoy seeing real people their age go through similar experiences.
7 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 7
Resources:
- Released: 2021-06-04 (Norway)
- Original title is Bortebane
- 1 hour 29 mins
- I watched this on Kanopy
- In English, Norwegian, Mandarin, Arabic
- IMDB
- Writer/Director: Line Hatland
- Stars: Anna, Khalidi, Zhang Yu, Fred, Afnan
- Watch the Trailer in English or Norwegian
- Medieoperatørene website, facebook and vimeo
