Spending four years with a girls' soccer team, director Maria Finitzo has made a documentary that plays like a female version of Friday Night Lights. Instead of a school in Texas, she trains her lens on Chicago's Kelly High School, located in the city's majority-Latino Southwest Side. Like the coach of Buzz Bissinger's nonfiction bestseller—which spawned a movie and a TV show—Poland-born Coach Stan Mietus doubles as a mentor. He also knows the area intimately, since he attended the same school (his professional sports career was sidelined by an ACL injury). Unlike most other high school coaches, Stan doesn't make cuts and he believes that each girl should feel important. Finitzo focuses on four of his players, all from Spanish-speaking homes: Teresa, Elizabeth, Alicia, and Maria. Elizabeth balances soccer with work in her family's used-clothing store. She plans to attend college, but ends up taking time off when the family suffers a property loss. For additional income, she works as a Mary Kay representative. Alicia—a distracted student before she found soccer—plans to play in college, maybe even professionally, but she eventually switches her focus to sports medicine. All four girls strive to find time for work, school, family obligations, and interpersonal relationships. While soccer adds to their busy schedules, they learn enriching lessons about teamwork and responsibility appear to prove enriching, so it's fortunate that the program survives a round of citywide budget cuts so severe that students must bring their own toilet paper to school. Finitzo makes a persuasive case for the importance of high school sports programs and caring staffers like Coach Stan. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)
In the Game
(2015) 77 min. DVD: $375. Grasshopper Film. PPR. Volume 32, Issue 6
In the Game
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: