Sports d'ailleurs

8 Stars and a Thank You for exposing us to culture and game we would otherwise not know existed.

I'll be honest. Watching this made me grateful to not live in any of the countries that these sports were showcased. Not only because in some cases you just felt horrible for those that had animals involved but because many of these countries just are so poor and dirty. Except of course Scotland. Still found the series interesting and well-made and glad I watched.

This documentary hit Netflix on Friday and after a long weekend I have now watched Home Game and here is my review for it. The premise of the show looks at some of the most unique and dangerous sports in the world and how they affect the people who play them.

There are some fascinating sports showed here, my favourite being Calcio Storico and Makepung Lampit. They are just so unique and mad that it draws you in and you can't keep your eyes off of them. I mean I would never want to try these sports but it is great to see these people taking part and what it means to them on a personal level.

It is also really interesting seeing how these sports affect the cultures of the people that are a part of them. It makes them feel better and brings a sense of pride for country and everybody involved, even in some cases breaking down stereotypes and changing people ideas on certain subjects.

Also it really helps this show that Mark Strong narrates it, he has a great voice and it fits in the style for this show and does a great job of explaining the different sports.

But there are negatives here, with any documentary like this there will be some sports that you don't find that interesting. For me it was the Catch Fetiche and The Roller Derby, I wish this show had maybe focused on a fewer number of sports but gone into more detail on them.

Also I don't know why but I found this show a bit difficult to binge watch, as I said maybe with a few less episodes but with more depth it would have felt better paced.

Overall, this is a decent documentary, if you are a sports fan and want to learn a bit about some lesser known sports then this could be worth a watch but maybe not for anybody else.

Rating - 6/10.

Judging by the narrator's accent, I assume that "Home Game" was originally made for British television. Regardless, it was just recently posted on Netflix and is worth your time if you want to see about small, lesser-known ultra-dangerous sports. Each episode covers one sport...such as the nutty Calcio Storico (Florence, Italy), free diving, Texas Female Roller Derby and the Highland Games (among others).

Overall, this is a very interesting series. While I am not a huge sports fan, I did enjoy the shows. the one that I could not make myself watch was free diving. I am a scuba diver and simply think free divers are insane...and death is not too uncommon. Apart from that, I loved the programs...particularly Calcio Storico, as it is so weird and violent, you really won't believe it! Well made and never dull.

UPDATE: I did watch ALL the episodes...even the free diving one. Scary...but worth seeing as well!

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