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During the World Cup, I recorded (I’m teaching myself not to say “taped”) a soccer documentary called The Other Final (nearly unreadable Flash site ahead). Here’s the spiel from Wikipedia:

The Other Final is a 2003 documentary film directed by Johan Kramer about a football (soccer) match between Bhutan and Montserrat, the then-lowest ranked teams on FIFA World Rankings. The game was played in the Changlimithan Stadium, Thimphu, Bhutan. Bhutan won the game 4-0.

The movie’s true story, though, is about the unlikely convergence of nations and the (if you’ll permit me) transcendental power of sport. It’s gorgeously shot (Bhutan makes a beautiful backdrop), and does a fantastic job of treating this unlikely soccer match with the respect it deserves. It can be a little overly sentimental at times, but what sports movie avoids that pitfall? Here are some reviews of the film.

I’d highly recommend this film to sports and documentary fans everywhere. The only problem is: how to watch it. I saw it on the CBC’s excellent The Passionate Eye. You can buy it off the website, though their online store looks pretty dodgy to me. If you’re local and patient, I’ve still got it on my PVR and could probably burn a copy for you.

In case you were wondering, if they played the Other Final today, it would be between Turks and Caicos Islands and American Samoa. FIFA recently announced a new set of world rankings, and Canada moved all the way up to 54th! Now, if we could just make it to the World Cup in my lifetime.