Next Goal Wins

It's not very often I feel compelled to write a review on something I've watched, but "Next Goal Wins" is undoubtedly the BEST football themed docu-movie I have ever seen and indeed in my humble opinion one of the best movies I've ever watched. It grips you immediately from the start and is a true underdog story in every sense of the word, but this movie is much, much more than just a football documentary. It's so uplifting the way it approaches all the ideals, principles, morals and events and the hands that life deals us as you will find out upon viewing. The characters within the story are fascinating and in some cases "unusual" to say the least! If I had to make one criticism (and believe me I don't want to) it's the fact that I could have watched this easily for another hour I was that engaged by the story and the people in it and would have loved to have seen the next chapters in their lives, but to be fair to the makers of the film they got that just right as well. Simply brilliant, highly recommended to give you the feel good factor even if you're not a football fan.

Lots of passion is in front of the but, with the players and the coaches, and unfortunately there isn't nearly as much passion behind the camera.

The filmmakers may have let down a good story, because it's just not made as exciting or as emotional as it should be through the very ordinary visuals, music, and editing. Especially the last third - when things should logically be gripping - feels flat. I felt good for the people in front of the camera, but the competent at best filmmaking doesn't effectively form their stories into a complete and satisfying film. Some introducing subjects are introduced in the first third, and then forgotten about until the epilogue, for example.

Will be interesting to see if Taika Waititi can make this story into something better. I don't look forward to the inevitable criticisms of 2022's Next Goal Wins being criticised for having a white saviour trope (I mean, fingers crossed that doesn't happen), but I am looking forward to seeing what Waititi does. Hopefully it will be a little warmer, a little more passionate, and a little more fun, like the story deserves.

This is one of those rare films that leave you feeling a better person, that the world is slightly more hopeful place than it was before. On the face of it a genric sports documentary about the world's worst international football team, this transcends any one specific subject to give you an intravenous injection of hope and joy. It's often a cliché to say you don't need to care about the sport with a film like this, but you really don't here - all you need to be is the sort of person who faces some challenges that seem to be overwhelming. If that's you - and if it's not, you're lying - then you can hardly fail to be inspired, uplifted and left damp-eyed in all the best ways by this gem of a film. Fantastic.

Next Goal Wins is a documentary about football/soccer, which came out in the year of the Brazilian World Cup, where the greatest footballing nations in the world come together for the biggest festival of the sport in the world; at the other end of that spectrum we have American Samoa – the team famous for the 31-0 defeat they suffered at the hands of Australia in 2001. This is the story of a tiny country with a national team of amateurs who work full- time jobs around their practice sessions as they prepare for the World Cup qualifiers against a backdrop of never having won a competitive match in their history, and only having scored twice in the last 17 years.

Like almost everyone else that talks about this film, I will struggle to write more than a sentence before I contrast this film with the FIFA World Cup because, although they are the same sport, they are at polar extremes to one another in terms of content. I'll also do what a lot of people have done, and reference the wonderful John Oliver bit on HBO where he tore FIFA's approach apart at a time where the corruption and lack of ability to do anything about it was also hurting how people felt about the body. Of course the World Cup was still a great success because people love the sport even if they universally hate the organizing body. This film strikes wonderfully at the nerve because it is about love of the sport, about trying despite the odds and, on a bigger scale, about people and a community.

The film does have a weakness in that it knows all this and as a result it perhaps plays towards it a bit too obviously at times; structuring itself in an effective manner sure, but I could have done with a few fewer moments of music coming in and people talking about courage and such. That said, it is hard not to do this because all the things are in place here – we have great characters, a unique setting and a wonderful sense of enjoyment (which the film brings out in this way). It helps to not know anything about the end point of the film (I didn't) but in the end it doesn't really matter because it is the ride and effort that is the fun part and even if you do not care about the sport, the film wisely picks its characters so that you care about specific people and thus the whole.

It is hard not to feel nervous as the team head towards another game – sometimes with the goal of just not losing too badly – and this increases as the new coach tries to pull them together. It is also hard not to be moved by the presence of transgender Jaiyah and the history made there – again, with all the headlines at the time reminding us that one of the next tournaments will be in Qatar, where Jaiyah would not find the welcome that she finds in her community, team and sport. It is hard not to be really moved at times because the film, although a bit too heavy at times, is generally very good at building all this together and putting it on the field.

It is a small story and it falls so totally outside of Brazil 2014 that it can more than serve as a refreshing documentary that has a great underdog story (there is no lower) and delivers it with strong characters and a sense of joy.

Next Goal Wins follows the American Samoa football team through their world cup qualifying games. They are famous for their record 31-0 defeat to Australia and being the worst team in the world.

You really don't have to like football at all to enjoy this excellent documentary. It has a host of natural but great personalities and it is refreshing to see people playing sport for the right reasons. It was nice to see the culture of the American Samoans which seems a lot more welcoming than many western cultures. The fact that no-one seemed to playing up to the camera at all is a credit to all participants.

I really enjoyed this uplifting and at times tear jerking documentary and highly recommend it to non football and football fans alike.