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Despite what Nike keeps telling everyone, it's perfectly OK to lose a ball game. The Other Final—an exceptionally funny, good natured, cheer-along documentary—celebrates the greater part of the world population who are not elite athletes. Bhutan, a peaceful kingdom in the Himalayas, and Montserrat, a volcanic island in the Caribbean, fielded the most dismal teams in the FIFA competition. While an estimated four billion people tuned into the 2002 Soccer World Cup, the above two teams, ranked 202 and 203 respectively, played a match to determine who really is the worst of the worst!
Superbly shot in exotic locales, crisply edited and with a soundtrack including Death in Vegas and Moby, The Other Final returns to the essence of international football: having fun on the field. The Bhutan and Montserrat teams are truly dreadful but they couldn't care less. When the Bhutan Foreign Minister smiles beatifically and informs the camera that his chief concern is "Gross National Happiness, or GNH", you know that this is a film for an audience far broader than sports addicts. The result of the match cannot be revealed but the smart tip is: stick around until the final credit has rolled.