THE BEAUTIFUL GAME

Director Thea Sharrock is having a pretty good year. Here we are, only a third of the way into 2024, and her second film of the year has recently dropped onto Netflix.

Both entries are based, to some degree, on real life stories, however where Februarys Wicked Little Letters gave us an ultra sweary period comedy, The Beautiful Game is more family oriented fun, shining a light on the homeless world cup. A very real tournament now into its second decade which advocates for the end of homelessness through football.

(The England Team, naturally, have never won it)

Basing a film on football is always slightly risky business. It feels like film and TV have never managed to find a way to make the on pitch action feel realistic, and for every hit (see Tom Hoopers brilliant The Damned United) there are countless examples of misses (see the Goal series).

Where The Beautiful Game works though, is that the Homeless World Cup is a 5-a-side competition. The filmmakers do not have to worry about replicating the intensity and the atmosphere of a premier league match at Old Trafford. They do not have to worry about finding actors who can legitimately pass as professional athletes. 

Instead this tournament is far more scaled down. The crowds are smaller and part of the beauty of it is that these characters are not professional footballers. The players here, with a few key exceptions, are not meant to be good at football, and this gives The Beautiful Game the freedom to not even try to make it look like they are.

We are told a number of times during the first act that the games played at the Homeless World Cup are fast and frenetic, and the constraints of a 5-a-side pitch help to portray this, and during the matches I fully bought into them.

It is to Thea Sharrocks credit that The Beautiful Game manages to deliver some of the most believable football I’ve seen on screen.

What was less believable for me, however, was Bill Nighy in the role of scout-turned-coach Mal. 

Mal is the man responsible for putting the team together, who coaches the England team throughout the tournament, but while Nighy does - as he always does - nail the human side of the role, I was never convinced by him on the football side.

I know that Bill Nighy is a big Crystal Palace fan, so will know the game very well. Unfortunately, every time he started talking about football it sounded to me like someone reading a script. 

He does though, as mentioned, have the human side of the role down to a tee. And, I guess, though I’ve spent that last 400 words writing about football, the human side is what the film is really about.

What I did believe from Nighy’s performance was that he really cared for his players. That he wanted to improve their lives (as well as righting some wrongs in his own). In these moments The Beautiful Game really excels. 

Instead of focusing on football itself, the film succeeds because it centres not on the game, but on the impact that it can have on peoples lives. Both the good and the bad. 

It shows off the best of football in its unique ability to bring people together, and how through initiatives like the Homeless World Cup it can improve peoples lives.

but also shows it at its worst, with its casual disregard for young players who don't quite make the grade. The impact that it can have on those it leaves behind, and the lack of support network for them.

Every year hundreds, if not thousands, of young players - the majority of whom have had a childhood of being built up, of being told that they’re good, of dreaming of making it big - are let go from their academies. Told they’re not good enough anymore and dropped. And while it may not delve into the theme in a great deal of depth The Beautiful Game is one of the few times I’ve seen this side of the game depicted in film.

And speaking of finding fresh angles on its subject matter, The Beautiful Game sets itself apart by showing a side to homelessness that is seldom shown on screen. While it does not shy away from the things that these people may have done in the past, it looks at the issue through a more optimistic, hopeful. Centring itself on the success stories.

A number of the supporting artists here are people who, through The Homeless World Cup, have managed to turn things around. Who are now no longer homeless.

And whilst I appreciate that for a lot of the homeless community this will not be their experience, and it is vastly important to shine a light on the incredible difficulties that they got through, it is also important to acknowledge that with the proper infrastructure (that in many places is sadly lacking), that with funding and support, there is a way out.

I enjoyed The Beautiful Game far more than I expected to. It does the football pretty well, but most importantly does the humanity very well.

It also shines a light on an incredibly important cause. One which will hopefully have a larger audience come Seoul 2024.

It might not quite reach the sheer fun of Wicked Little Letters but Thea Sharrocks second film of the year is definitely worth your time.

(Susan Wokomas RADA training has clearly paid off too!)

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To learn more about the HOMELESS WORLD CUP visit there website - https://www.homelessworldcup.org

To read about the darker side of football academies you can read about the Jeremy Wisten case here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-59214647