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The Holy Game – Sacred Soccer

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Soccer (aka football in the rest of the world) is often called “the beautiful game”. Next year the world will be watching The World Cup with teams from around the world vying for the quadrennial championship. A less well-known championship is the Clericus Cup, a competition between the seminaries in Rome. The Holy Game, from directors Brent Hodge and Chris Kelly, gives us a look at the 2017 tournament as a way to show us a bit about what it means to be called to ministry.

The Clericus Cup arose as a reaction to the hooliganism that often cursed Italian football. They formed a league among the various seminaries in Rome, with students from around the world. In many ways this is essentially much like intramural sport in US universities. Most of the players are students preparing for ordination, although there are some who are already ordained who take part as well.

While the sport and the tournament provide the framework of the film, it is really about what it means to be called to ministry. The film focuses on two U.S. seminarians, one from Portugal, one from Ghana, and a priest who was serving as the rector of one of the seminaries. Even though they are serious about the games, they are in Rome in order to finish their schooling before ordination.

As the various rounds of the tournament progress, the film also looks at a particular aspect of the priesthood. More important than the games to all of these people are things like the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience that they will be taking. They speak a bit of how they came to know they were called to this life. We see one who takes part in a roleplay of doing pastoral care. There is even a sexual scandal that comes up in the film that impacts one of the participants.

The film shows a very basic level of the work seminarians do as they prepare for the priesthood. But it does give us some insight into what it means to have been called to such a life. Personally, I’d have liked to know a bit more about their discernment process. As one of the seminarians tells us, people were surprised he was going to become a priest—not him in particular, but anyone. It would have been lovely to hear his personal response to that attitude.

I celebrate the people who hear God’s call and step forward. The ordained clergy, both Catholic and other, have chosen lives that bring both blessing and trials. The Holy Game gives us a little bit of insight into some young men seeking to serve God and God’s church. And to play a bit of football.

To see our interview with director Brent Hodge, click here.

The Holy Game is available on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Hodgee Films

Day 1 at AFI Docs

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Welcome to the real world.

Documentaries take us into the world to show us lives and issues that we might otherwise not know about. AFI Docs is a festival filled with documentaries to challenge us to see the world around us from a new perspective.

In the current American political environment, it seems like no one wants to talk to people they disagree with. The First Step, from Brandon Kramer, follows CNN political commentator Van Jones as he works for prison reforms. This is a story of strange political bedfellows. Jones, who was angered by the election of Donald Trump, found an ally in the issue in Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose father served time in federal prison. Together they worked for the passage of The First Step Act (which eventually was supported bipartisanly and signed by the President).

Much of the film is Jones trying to bring very opposite people together. For example, he creates a group made up of people from South L.A. and West Virginia around the common issue of how addiction has affected those communities. But there were many who were appalled that Jones would have anything to do with the Administration. Many in the Black community saw his work as a betrayal. They thought he gave validation to Trump and his people. The main point of the film is that such dialogue is essential to the working of a democracy. When we refuse to meet with those we may view as “the enemy”, it only adds to the polarization and the effective paralyzation of the political process.

The US Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) has been wildly successful. They have one four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals. The Men’s Team, not quite as successful—by any measure. But the Men get paid at a much higher rate than the women. Yeah, that’s not fair. But is it legal? LFG, from Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine, is the story of the USWNT’s legal battle against the US Soccer Federation over equal pay. While the film offers some wonderful soccer action as the women continue to win, the main focus is the legal process as it plays out over more than a year. (The case still is ongoing at the appeals level.)

When we think of professional athletes, we think that those who have made it to the highest level probably get paid in ways that reflect that. That certainly doesn’t apply to women athletes. The lawsuit reflects the basic pay disparity between men and women in the US. The film is filled with the personal emotions of the women who are fighting this battle. It also shows the arguments on both sides of the issue, although it certainly favors the USWNT’s perspective. (It should be noted that the US Soccer Federation opted not to be part of the film.) LFG is available to stream on HBO Max.

Fathom, by director Drew Xanthopoulos, focuses on two women scientists who are separately working on the calls and songs of Humpback whales. Dr. Michelle Fournet and her colleagues are trying to communicate with whales off Alaska, testing an hypothesis that a certain sound (a “whup”) is a greeting/introduction. Dr. Ellen Garland is trying to follow the pathway of how a song moves across the ocean to different groups.

Whales, especially humpbacks, are highly intelligent. The film notes that these animals had developed a culture before humans walked upright. Their sounds may not be what we would think of as language, but it seems to have a social and cultural aspect that connects the whales to each other.

Among today’s shorts were Audible, the story of the football team at the Maryland School of the Deaf, as they come with the end of a winning streak and the death of a friend; Bug Farm, about some people who work on a farm that raises crickets, mealworms, and roaches for sale to pet stores and zoos as feed; and Invisible Monsters and Tomato Soup, in which twenty people have shared some of their dreams from early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Audible will be available to stream on Netflix in July.

One of the industry forums that was held in conjunction with AFI Docs was “Breaking the Silence: How Documentaries Can Shape Conversation on Racial Violence”. It focused on a study by that name done by the Center for Media and Social Impact, which used the documentary about lynching, Always in Season, as a focal point for conversation in several locations in different parts of the country. The key point is that such a documentary can be a helpful beginning to conversations, if done properly. The report and resource guide can be found at https://cmsimpact.org/report/breaking-silence-documentaries-can-shape-conversation-racial-violence-america-create-new-communities/

Photos courtesy of AFI.

Cosmoball: When Soccer Saved the Galaxy…

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Remember that time when soccer saved the world?

No, seriously. 

Set after a galactic war took place near the Earth, Cosmoball is a fantasy adventure that tells the story of Anton (Yevgeny Romantsov), a young man who cannot find work as he cares for his sick mother. In a world struck by poverty, the rest of the population is obsessed with an inter-galactic soccer game called Cosmoball. For each match (which is broadcast around the world in the sky), the entire planet stops to watch the game and forget their troubles. Everyone, that is, except Anton. Anton focuses his life on his everyday problems but that has given him a bitterness towards the sport. However, when Anton discovers some incredible powers of his own, he is coerced into playing the sport himself. In doing so, he also learns that the fate of the galaxy may actually depend on the game he has despised his entire life and his role is more important than he’d expected.

Based on the French animated series Galactik Football, the film may be a wild and silly affair but is actually also fairly fun as well. While the CGI isn’t always top notch, the film absolutely carries the stylized look and feel of animated hybrids of the past. Directed by Dzhanik Fayziev, Cosmoball is not a film that wants you to believe that its grounded in our everyday world. Instead, it wisely takes an ‘otherworldly’ approach that feels more akin to Lana Wachowski’s Speed Racer than it does the Marvel Universe. In doing so, the film is allowed to remain campy enough to for kids to enjoy while still carrying a story with some heart. 

I don’t know if this film was expensive to produce but it does look expensive. And that ends up working to its favour.

In some ways, the film offers some interesting social commentary as well, especially surrounding media consumption. For instance, Anton’s bitterness for the country’s obsession with Cosmoball highlights the world’s need for distraction. For the last two decades, the world’s obsession with this [literally] ‘global sport’ has merely provided an escape from the large-scale poverty that they’re experiencing. To them, Cosmoball has become a release that allowed them to cheer for something at a time where everything seemed hopeless. However, in doing so, they also absolved themselves of responsibility. However, after [spoiler?] the world is saved, the first comment made by the public is ‘Let’s get to work.’ Interestingly, with Cosmoball no longer necessary, the people cease ‘looking up’ and begin to focus immediately on making the world a better place themselves. Suddenly, their immediate situation matters more than their entertainment and they recognize the power they have to bring change to their circumstance.

It’s worth noting that the film’s style is ultimately the main story here. Performances by the cast are largely unremarkable (though they do seem to be having fun playing in this world.) What’s more, as it moves between wild fantastic elements and earthly social problems, the script does feel wonky in parts and sometimes feel as though it rushes the journey. 

However, Cosmoball is entertaining enough to forgive these missed opportunities. Wild with an adventurous spirit, the film pops with colour and energy and, as a result, may be provide the necessary distraction that kids are looking for.

Cosmoball is available on VOD on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021.

The Keeper -Finding Forgiveness

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Based on a true story, The Keeper, from director Marcus H Rosenmüller, is the story of a German POW who in the post-war years becomes one of the most famous football (soccer to Americans) players in England. Along the way the story looks the difficulty of forgiving both our enemies and ourselves. And there’s a love story.

Bert Trautmann (David Kross) is a German paratrooper who fought most of the war in Poland, earning an Iron Cross. Late in the war, he’s captured by the British and placed in a POW camp in Lancashire. Because he volunteered for the German army and was well decorated, he gets some pretty nasty jobs in the camp. After the war, the POWs were kept there for some time until repatriation could happen.

One day when Jack Friar (John Henshaw) and his daughter Margaret (Freya Mavor) deliver goods to the camp, Friar sees Trautmann tending goal as the prisoners play football. He is exceptional. Friar is the manager of a local football club that is in dire need of improvement. He arranges to have Trautmann work for him so he can use him as a goalie in upcoming matches. The team prospers, and just about the time Trautmann is due to return to Germany, the manager of the Manchester City club offers him a tryout. Around this same time, Trautmann and Margaret marry. (The love story takes up most of the first half of the film.)

It is not easy for a former Nazi to be accepted either by teammates or fans. The issue was multiplied when he began playing in Manchester, which had a sizable Jewish population. In time, a rabbi who had fled Germany wrote an open letter saying that we shouldn’t judge on what we presume, but judge each by their merit. That let Trautmann find some acceptance, and his exceptional play led the team to more victories—eventually winning the FA Cup—a match in which Trautmann played the last 15 minutes with a broken neck.

The film, as is often the case with sports stories, deals with adversity, perseverance, and heroics. But it is also a love story, and that adds another dimension. In fact, this is more love story than sports story. But the issues of adversity, perseverance, and heroics are just as important in that part of the story.

Through the first half of the film, the adversity has to do with Trautmann’s past as a German soldier, and the perception others had of him. As one character tells him, “To me and everyone around me, you’re still the enemy.” Margaret was just as set against Trautmann as everyone else. But as she got to know him, and saw within him someone who had dreams and fears like everyone else, she softened to him.

Later in the film, other problems arise that test Trautmann individually, and him and Margaret as a couple. We learn in bits and pieces through the film some of the ghosts and guilt that haunt Trautmann. Just as Margaret, then fans had to come to term with how they viewed Trautmann’s past, so must he. Often it is much more difficult to forgive oneself that to find forgiveness in others.

There is an interesting side note in this film for people familiar with Christian hymnody (at least for non-British people). In the scene leading up to the famous championship game, we hear the crowd singing “Abide with Me”. It turns out that that is a tradition for the FA Cup Finals dating back to 1927. (I’ve yet to find an explanation.) It seems a strange song to sing prior to a sports match, given that it is a song asking for God’s presence at the time of death. The song is sung again at the end of the film. While the song is included mostly for its association to football, it also fits well at the end of the film because death crops up at various times in the film, as it does throughout our lives. It is a nice reminder of our need for God’s presence, not only when “fast falls the eventide”, but always.

The Keeper is opening in theaters (where open) and on virtual cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy of Beta Cinema.