After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United
Dir: Christopher Browne
Rating: 4.5/5.0
Variance Films
80 Minutes
Save for the edge-of-your-seat suspense evoked by Bnei Sakhnin’s tense and decisive Premier league matches, After the Cup never feels like a typical “sports movie.” It is one, of course, insofar as it chronicles the experience and intricacies of an internationally renowned soccer team. But sophomore director Christopher Browne is so skillful in his use of the documentary form, so sensitive to the magnitude of his subject in the eyes of the Israeli Arabs around whom his story revolves, that he transcends both genres – documentary and sport – to create a moving, inspiring and thought-provoking film that never once alienates either soccer neophytes or adrenaline junkies by losing sight of the greater themes at hand.
Browne’s passion for shedding light on the oddballs and underdogs of the sporting world has served him well. His first film, A League of Ordinary Gentlemen, is a documentary feature about the struggles of professional bowlers that earned him festival awards and theatrical distribution. Now, with After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United, Browne takes on the proverbial bigger fish, moving on from bowling to the embittered brotherhood of an Israeli Arab population trying to negotiate between their identification with Arab culture and that of their home nation of Israel.
The town of Sakhnin is home to 25,000 Israeli Arabs and, as such, has been known for years as a hotbed of protest and cultural tension. But with the advent and surprise success of local soccer team Bnei Sakhnin – an Arab owned and organized enterprise with a Jewish, Arab and internationally populated roster – the town and its home team became a symbol for the possibility of peace between Jews and Israeli Arabs. In 2004, Bnei Sakhnin shocked the nation by winning the Israeli Cup and earning the right to represent Israel in European competition with its self-proclaimed family of united Arab and Israeli players. As the name suggests, After the Cup catches up with the members and management of Bnei Sakhnin Football Club in the season following their historic win, shedding light on the commingling of hope and fear, pressure and pride driving the team and its fans as they fight to stay afloat in the Premier League and fulfill impossible expectations engendered by their success.
Christopher Browne deftly navigates between the touching and harrowing details of Sakhnin’s story, between commentary from local fans and star players, with directorial skills as consummate as those of his fleet-footed subjects on the soccer field. With a gift for capturing decidedly human moments on camera – of weakness, of joy, of honesty and determination diluted by doubt – Browne zeroes in on the high stakes game that, for people like team captain Abbas Suan, Sakhnin anchorman and sportscaster Wajee Aboud and coach Eyal Lachman, has evolved from a beloved sport to a bid for survival. Despite a decided empathy for his Israeli-Arab subjects and, at times, a seemingly narrow focus on Bnei Sakhnin’s belligerent Jewish contenders, Browne ultimately evens out his coverage of the cultural tensions playing out on and off the field. One interviewee, a local carpenter and obsessive Bnei Sakhnin fan, admits that he stays indoors for three days after a match because he knows full well the anger and violence that might take hold of him should anyone say a harsh word against the team. This likelihood of violence, of fickle fans and eruptions of hatred on both sides, surrounds each game; the tension is constant and high. And yet the strength of Bnei Sakhnin in withstanding such odds to champion their cause — not for Arabs or Jews or even for the team itself but instead for the future of Israel – propels the team (and quite possibly Browne’s film as well) into the annals of history as a standard bearer for united effort in the name of peace. (And incidentally, there is some downright incredible soccer to be seen into the bargain).
by Lauren Westerfield
