'the other final'

follow the bouncing ball . . .

Four years ago, during the last World Cup, a Dutch advertising executive, with his home team out of the running, ruminated on the 'other' reality of being on the losing side. Johan Kramer looked around and realized most of the 203 teams in FIFA never stood a chance of making it to the World Cup qualifying rounds. Inspired, with FIFA's blessing, he decided to organize and film a 'final' game between the two teams at the bottom of the FIFA list -- Montserrat and Bhutan.

His resulting documentary is humourous and wise and full of delight. Both of these countries, ranked 202 and 203, are poor by western standards and literally, on opposite ends of the earth. The Montserrat team's stadium lies buried in volcanic ash, as does much of their tropical island homeland. The Bhutanese, living in the high Himalayas, have their soccer pitch on a lush mountaintop.

The Montserrat team, with their island anthem "HOT, HOT, HOT!" travelling with them, play airline hopskotch across continents on a journey that takes days and brings them to another world. The Bhutanese monks pray and chant, a white soccer ball at the centre of their temple.

This film will make you smile, and want to become friends with a white ball, and then share that friendship with friends you haven't met yet.