When deciding on what to see last night, I sarcastically suggested
‘Next Goal Wins’ to my friend. The joke was that football movies are generally
underwhelming (besides, she not into football); the first problem being that
it’s hard to capture the intensity and excitement of 90 minute games in five
minute scenes, the second being that if anything too amazing happens it’s not
believable. If Manchester City’s last minute Premiere League win in 2012 was
fictional, nobody would buy it. I knew nothing about the film, and after seeing
that it was a highly rated documentary (currently 8.7 on IMDB) it sounded like
a rare treat; a good football movie.
So Ten years after an embarrassing 31-0 loss to Australia,
the American Samoan football team begin their world cup qualifying campaign
with help from a new coach, the US based Dutchman Thomas Rongen. Rongen’s the
main focus of the film, a high level manager taking on the challenge of
coaching ‘The World’s worst team’, an eccentric Dutch rock star, berating and
bonding with the team in equal measure. In his first ten minutes on screen he
shouts down FIFA officials, insists on climbing to the highest point of the
island for his country, and shows his sense of humour by responding to the team’s
intimidating Haka with ‘Well done, well done, well done. I just shit myself in
my pants, seriously’. Also featuring
heavily is goalkeeper Nicki Palapu, who carries the scars of humiliation from
the record-breaking Australian defeat, and Jiyah Saelau, the world’s first
World Cup qualification transgender player, as well as two American ringers
(distant American Samoan relatives allowing them in the team) brought in by
Rongen.
The film shows interviews with the players and their
families, coaching sessions and of course football matches, but much of the joy
comes from watching the players bond, and as Rongen is introduced to the rich,
loving culture of American Samoa, so are we. It feels like the ‘bonding sessions’
- players swimming, hiking and going to church together - is a way of life for
American Samoans, and there are some lovely moments of sheer unadulterated
friendship. Jaiyah Saelua is one of the more interesting players, a Fa'afafine,
(the third sex of Samoa, born male but with both male and female traits, an
important part of Samoan culture, dedicated to family). Her gender is accepted
by the players, and in a sport rife with prejudice - homophobia and racism are
big issues in modern football - it’s lovely to see the players sing, dance and
eat with their sister at night, after training hard with her in the day.
Besides, she’s an extremely likeable screen presence. The American Samoan
culture is the most escapist element of the film, and the idea of one big
island family is very appealing.
The Island is gorgeous, and the cinematography
captures it beautifully. The film often looks like an advert for a digital
camera, the team playing keepie uppie before the setting sun, or back-flipping
out of the ocean (water is everywhere; it rains for at least half the movie),
always in slow motion. These moments of spectacle are some of the most
enjoyable in the film, and the combination of sublime moments of beauty and the
tension of watching a team you have come to know and love make for excellent
pacing. Indeed one of the only criticisms is that you are left wanting more
after some of the fastest 97 minutes of your cinema life, and you’ll likely
miss the players when the film ends.
The games themselves are
exciting; the editing is cinematic, and although the football isn’t high
quality, you’re so invested in the players that it’s as tense, joyous and
desperate as watching your own team, and I had to refrain from cheering a few times
in a fairly empty screening. It’s like watching your kid’s team play, only with
tasteful, suspenseful slow motion.
The theme of family and togetherness is the most prominent.
The team has stuck together, facing constant defeat without a goal in the last
seventeen years, and the sacrifices they make for each other, putting in hours
of training before and after every full day of work is astounding. Filmmakers have tried to tell their story
before, but fear of ridicule has denied them access to the team. Directors Mike
Brett and Steve Jamison’s angle however is the impressively noble fact that
they even try when the odds are stacked so highly against them, and that the
love of the game and each other is what’s really important.
Focusing more on the individuals involved than the sport, Next Goal Wins is a personal and
relatable sports documentary, as heart-warming as it is tense.
