1 | Salute
(2008)
Suggested by 303Squadron
Salute traces the career of director Matt Norman’s uncle, Peter Norman, 200 metres silver medallist at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. It tells the story of how he was ostracised by Australian media and Olympic authorities following his support of a protest against racial discrimination. On the podium, together with black American 200 metre winner Tommie Smith and bronze medallist John Carlos, Norman wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge as his colleagues famously performed a Black Power salute. The act was heavily criticised by some who believed that politics and the Olympics should never mix.
2 | Fire in Babylon
(2010)
Suggested by hesbighesred, StevoKingoftheNewts and Chafariz
“It should be on the list,” says StevoKingoftheNewts of Fire in Babylon, the empowering story of how the West Indies cricket team became an unrivalled presence in the global cricket scene in the late 70s, ultimately defeating the English team in a series of matches that became a representation of racial tensions and power struggles. As Chafariz states, the documentary is a “brilliant exploration of the role of cricket in forging post-colonial West Indian identity”.
3 | Graham Taylor: An Impossible Job (AKA Do I Not Like That)
(1994)
Suggested by ChooChoo and Oedipa
“Do I Not Like That is fascinating because of how it confirms but also subtly challenges memories of England’s disastrous campaign to qualify for USA 94,” explains ChooChoo. “Was [Graham Taylor] a better England manager than remembered? Did he deserve the vitriol and public humiliation he received?” An Impossible Job traces the 18 months before the English football team failed to qualify for the 1994 Fifa World Cup and provides “incredible access”, as Oedipa notes, into the England manager’s “meltdowns and painful failure”. The documentary is also known as Do I Not Like That, a reference to Taylor’s exclamation when Poland scored a goal against England.
4 | Next Goal Wins
(2014)
Suggested by PjWjjj and halfmanhalfslug
In 2001, the American Samoa football team lost 31-0 to Australia: the defeat is still one of the largest ever witnessed in international football. Dreaming of qualifying for the 2014 Fifa World Cup, the team decided to ask a Dutch football coach to help them out. “The result,” writes user PjWjjj, is an inspiring documentary “that captures the Samoan way of life as much as the lives of all those involved”.
5 | The Heart of the Game
(2005)
Suggested by Seasalts and UnreliableTen
The only documentary on the list with female protagonists, The Heart of the Game follows a high school girls’ basketball team in Seattle as they overcome hardship and become Washington State championship contenders. The coach is “a local tax law professor who has no qualifications other than keen interest,” explains Seasalt. “He has an eccentric but motivating style with female athletes, creating a team theme each year: Pack of Wolves, Pride of Lions, Tropical Storm” to encourage and shape the girls’ performance.
6 | Touching the Void
(2003)
Suggested by Son_of_Mam, hobkesh and ccmac10
Director Kevin Macdonald’s depiction of mountaineers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates’s journey up the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes should “top most lists,” according to user ccmac10, as “the current template of these documentaries was largely set by Touching the Void”. In this factual tale of human endurance, the two climbers return to the Siula Grande for the first time since 1985 to recount their dramatic ascent.
7 | Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story
(2014)
Suggested by Ghostface, Martin Gamage and Giftedbutlazee
Although Alex Gibney’s The Armstrong Lie is the most well-known version of the story of the cyclist who won seven Tour de France titles with the aid of systematic doping, many readers have suggested that Stop At Nothing is “superior”. Commenter Martin Gamage explains: “the interviews with Frankie and Betsy Andreu and Greg LeMond are extraordinarily powerful and bring home how Armstrong wrecked others’ lives without a care.”
8 | Death of a Gentleman
(2015)
Suggested by FashionandFrappes
In this recently released documentary, two cricket fans turned journalists embark on a global journey to understand the condition of Test cricket in the 21st century. FashionandFrappes recommends it “for fans and non-fans alike,” as its focus on “the nexus between politics, money and international cricket” is “fascinating” for a wide audience, concluding “it is especially interesting in the light of the movement to include cricket as an Olympic sport.”
9 | Riding Giants
(2004)
Suggested by Viking17
Directed by skateboarder and surfer Stacy Peralta, the writer of Dogtown and Z-Boys, Riding Giants explores the history of surfing culture, beyond the traditional focus on individual hero narratives. The documentary traces the development of the sport across three generations and three geographic areas, giving a voice to Greg Noll, Jeff Clark and Laird Hamilton – representing respectively the 50s, the 70s and the contemporary era – to narrate the surfing cultures of Northern California, Southern California and Hawaii.
10 | Out of the Ashes
(2010)
Suggested by chopper1973, ComedyPseudonym and slosh
Another documentary that was warmly recommended by a number of our readers is Out of the Ashes, which follows the rapid ascent of the Afghan cricket team in the World Cricket League as they attempt to qualify for the 2011 World Cup. Jersey, which hosted the ICC World Cricket League Division Five tournament in 2008, provides the background, with Afghanistan eventually winning a decisive victory against the Jersey team. It’s a “brilliant film,” concludes slosh. “Watching the team cross the road in Jersey and trying to work out what the traffic lights meant was amazing”.
