The Other Final

Given that this film combined travel and football, I suppose there was only the slightest of chances that I wouldn't like it. As it was, I loved every minute of it. Basically, I watched this in "goofy grin" mode throughout. This is a film for every duffer with two left feet who has ever chased after a football and dreamed of glory.

Basically, following the failure of The Netherlands to qualify for the 2002 World Cup Finals, a Dutch fan came up with the idea of an "alternative" final between the two lowest ranking countries in the world. Step forward brave Bhutan (202nd) and magnificent Montserrat (203rd). Faxes were issued and the challenge accepted by both. The film covers the build up to the game from both sides, as well as the match itself. It is a story rich in drama. One week before the match, neither side (for vastly differing reasons) has a coach. Three days before the game, they still don't have a referee.

The game was played in Bhutan (and while this tiny country has been on my "must visit" list for a few years now, this film really made me want to go there....and soon) and the tortuous route taken by the Montserrat team (via Amsterdam, Bangkok and Calcutta) suggested they were still trying to figure out where Bhutan was, long after they had set out on their epic journey.

This is a film about the joy of sport (in a world far away from over-inflated salaries and corporate sponsorship) and also about the meeting of two very different cultures. The Montserrat players are clearly more than a little stunned to be asked for their autographs. The Bhutanese captain (and centre forward) dreams of playing for Arsenal some day (although he knows it will never happen).

As for the game itself, it looks like all of Bhutan turns out to watch the epic contest and the local match commentary enhances the spectacle (e.g. "The Montserrat keeper looks very confident with the ball at his feet" - just before he hoofs it straight to the Bhutanese forward). The grass on the pitch is cut by hand, with a sickle. The penalty spot appears to lie in the middle of a marshy bog. It's also not every game where a keeper sits down in his goalmouth and sulks after losing a goal.

I guess the best tribute I can pay to this film is that not only did it make me want to visit Bhutan (as previously noted), but it also made me really wish I could have been there to see this game. If only I'd known <sigh!>. This is a magical film.

10/10

I saw this documentary last week and given that the World Cup Final has just been contested, the timing was entirely apt. This film details the build up to an unusual football match played on the 30th of June 2002, the day of the World Cup Final. In that game, watched by a global audience of one billion people, two titans of the game played each other for the ultimate sporting prize. The final outcome had Brazil defeat Germany in a high-tech stadium in Tokyo. Meanwhile, another football match was simultaneously being played in another corner of Asia. But this one was nothing like the one dominated by Ronaldo. It was instead contested by the two lowest ranked international football teams in the world. A Dutchman Johan Kramer had taken inspiration from his own team's failure to qualify for the big tournament. He started to focus on all the other teams in the world who mostly lost games of football; the natural result of this quest led him to the two countries listed as 202nd and 203rd in the world – Bhutan and Montserrat. Contact was made with both federations and it was agreed that they would play each other on the same day as the 2002 World Cup Final.

What this film really is all about is the joy and beauty of the game; and the way it can bring people of different cultures together, no matter the skill level. Where the top level of football has been taken over with corporate sponsorship, astronomical wages and a win-at-all-costs cynicism that often results in extremely unattractive gamesmanship and play-acting, the people in this film are completely unaffected by any of these afflictions. By going back down to the lowest level of the international game, Kramer has discovered an important truth about the sport in general. He has encountered players and fans who love football without any of the unattractive qualities that poison the game at the higher levels. The players are earnest and perform for the love of playing, while the fans are un-contaminated by the nasty element that some supporters develop when the stakes are high.

The game itself was the highlight of the film for me. While it was a friendly with no meaning outwith itself, the players gave it their all and it was beautiful to see both the players and the fans having a ball. The local commentator was an absolute riot. His lack of exposure to the game meant that his observations were refreshingly original. His heartfelt empathy with the Montserrat goalkeeper after conceding a goal was touching while being very funny. As too was his confident assertion later that the said keeper 'really knows what he is doing with the ball at his feet' just prior to the player kicking the ball hopelessly to an opposing striker. His commentary was both hilarious and charming. We even had the always amusing sight of a dog running onto the pitch and walking around without a care in the world. These sorts of things just don't happen at Old Trafford or the San Siro.

I won't give away the result, although ultimately the score doesn't really matter. What does matter is that this football match was played and conceived in a way that is truer to the spirit of the game than the one played at the top level often is. For the record the big game two days ago was won by Spain, who played a passing game that was in the best traditions of football, while the Dutch tried to cynically kick them off the park. Luckily the best side won. The Dutch team maybe should look to one of their compatriots, Johan Kramer, and learn from him; at least he, eight years previously, had done something on the day of the World Cup Final that truly celebrated the best of football.

I saw this film on a late night when I should have gone to bed. I'm certainly glad I didn't because this tale of two countries is fantastic. It's beautifully put together, well shot and edited. Best of all, the characters tell the story and it doesn't suffer from "Nick Broom-itis" where the film maker is too much a part of the story. The football match that occurs at the end of the film is full of drama and well worth the wait too as the story builds well throughout.

A thoroughly enchanting piece for lovers of good film making with no footy knowledge required.

9/10

The movie increased my GNH (Gross National Happiness) by several orders of magnitude. Documentary of a match organized between 202 seeded Bhutan and 203 seeded Montserrat (2002 FIFA rankings) by a Dutch footballer and filmmaker, the movie shows us what sports can and should be. The simplicity and humility of a people not yet converted by Nike and Adidas sponsorships (though they perhaps dream of it) is heartwrenching and uplifting.

A film thoroughly enjoyed by me (a football tragic)and my wife (no interest in football).

Shows the positive side of international sport - a voyage of discovery for the players (and viewers) as two completely different cultural and geographic teams are brought together for a game in the best sense of the word.

OK, it's not a Spielberg epic, but the producers should be congratulated for getting this together and bringing the teams together and recording the moment....

Should be compulsory viewing for all participants in the 'other' world cup....

Worth a second watch...