Copa 71

This is a great documentary and a must-watch for everyone. I knew about Copa 71 before I watched the movie, but I din't know much of the details. I was crying my eyes out, out of anger and frustration.

At one point, when they interview some of the Argentinian women and they mention how little support they got from their federation, I imediately thought about last weeks news that the now active Argentinian womens team only got a banan and a sandwich for lunch at their last assembly. While progress in womens football has exploded in the last few years it is vital that we all help making sure that every country support the womens team as much as the mens team.

Anyway. Watch this movie and weep. Then rise up and organize.

Cried a few times wihle watching it and created my account for it. I hope more people could watch it. Probably the best documentary of the year. I play football, too. Just started learning it for a month. I'm in my 20s but I wish I could start as a kid. But it is never too late to learn and play. Growing up as a girl I never thought I can play it too. Until watched the euro Cup 2022. I wish more girls or adult women would join us. Let's play football, Sis.

Cried a few times wihle watching it and created my account for it. I hope more people could watch it. Probably the best documentary of the year. I play football, too. Just started learning it for a month. I'm in my 20s but I wish I could start as a kid. But it is never too late to learn and play. Growing up as a girl I never thought I can play it too. Until watched the euro Cup 2022. I wish more girls or adult women would join us. Let's play football, Sis.

I felt that in the beginning they laid the abnormality of all women's football on a bit thick but I found that once they got that out of the way we can learn more about the players, the match and the game. That opening does tell you what they are talking about and the angle that they are approaching the story from the get go.

Which is a good angle as most everyone (in our society) would have been allowed or recommended to play a game of football in their lifetime. Even then the turn out for professional football between the sexes is a staggeringly large difference and when you combine these two factors and a apply them to 1970s with a packed stadium with all female players and no ones heard about it, that's nothing short of a head scratcher.

It's interesting that this isn't more famous as it's pretty important in terms of women's sport and the sport of football in general. I would say that this game and documentary are meant to empower other women. Although I must confess I am clueless when it comes to sport and would never have found out about this independently. I am happy to say that I have actually learned a good bit about women's sport over the course of this documentary and I am thankful for that.

This film brought me so much joy but also left me with a sad rage. To think of where women's football could be now if it wasn't for frail male egos. It's such a well made film and all ex players involved tell the story so well, you can see how emotional they still are and what it meant to be a part of this wonderful tournament that was hidden from history. The match footage is so well restored and it felt amazing to see it on the big screen. I just wish we hadn't been denied so many years of great tournaments and a history of great players. It ended on a positive though, as someone who regularly attends matches and follows the WSL and the Lionesses passionately I feel very confident that the sport will continue to grow. It's a testament to those wonderful players in 71.

"Copa 71" premiered at TIFF last month, and made its US debut at DocFest as part of the Seattle Independent Film Festival. It received rave reviews at both, so it's telling that as of this writing it's currently rocking a 4.5/10 on IMDb for what is probably the most egregious sin of all-- treating women like human beings.

The film has one primary focus, as shown in the title: In 1971, in Mexico City and Guadalajara, a non-FIFA Women's World Cup was held. Six teams were invited, and where the tournament holders imagined it a sideshow, they had dollar signs in their eyes and stadiums to fill (FIFA denied them the use of the regular stadiums, so they were 'forced' into the two largest stadiums in the country).

As a film, its focus is narrow, but that singular focus is so utterly fascinating, and the players so passionate, that this is hardly a complaint. The burial of this sporting event is mentioned barely at all, the film doesn't even make mention of the next (also overlooked) women's tournament in 1985, skipping to the first official FIFA sanctioned event in 1991.

These are minor concerns, as the film is necessary both as an educational tool, and as a historical document. I'm male, I've got a basic familiarity with soccer, but like all great sports documentaries, you can go in blind and be captivated by the story they're trying to tell, regardless. Yes, the open sexism these women had to deal with is still alive and well (see: the current IMDb rating), but that is less the focus than the very real fact that even in 1971, women playing soccer sold out a 110,000 seat stadium.

You can't not love these women, unless you're the unfortunate type of person who never cared for women in the first place. If that's you, you don't need to review bomb, just find something else to be mad about. Women's soccer is the fastest growing sport in the world, and this documentary is a testament that it's been a long time coming.