Im Banne des Unheimlichen / The Hand of Power (Germany, 1968)

The German trailer:

Also entitled The Zombie Walks for its English-language release, Im Banne des Unheimlichen really has nothing to do with zombies, other than that the murderer of the film is referred to as a zombie in the sensationalist news reports written by one of the characters. An even lesser and weaker link to the traditional Haitian concept of a zombie is the occasional scene in a Caribbean restaurant – complete with waitresses that don't bat an eye or drop their smile when a live dove lands on their head – and another character whose garish green skin is attributed to both some sickness picked up on the islands and to the "fact" that he is Creole. Thus, anyone looking for a gut-munching zombie film is going to be sorely disappointed. But someone looking for an enjoyable tacky German krimi, on the other hand, might enjoy themselves with this little film.
According to the German-language Wikipedia page on Wallace films, Im Banne des Unheimlichen is the 31st of 38 films made in Germany after WWII that were based on Wallace books. It is one of 14 Rialto Wallace productions for which director Alfred Vohrer was to point the camera. The film is "based" – to use the word freely – on the Wallace novel The Hand of Power, though it would perhaps be more truthful to simply say that one of the alternative titles of the English-language release of the film, The Hand of Power, was taken from the Wallace novel. The plot and events of the movie, as supplied by Ladislas Fodor (born 28 March 1898 in Budapest; died 1 September 1978 in La La Land), who also supplied a number of the scripts to the popular German Dr. Mabuse series (including Im Stahlnetz des Dr. Mabuse / The Phantom Menace [1961 / trailer], Die unsichtbaren Krallen des Dr. Mabuse / The Invisible Horror [1962 / trailer], and Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse / The Terror of Dr. Mabuse [1963 / trailer]), as well as few other odd Wallace films, really has about as much to with the original novel as, say, years later the sci-fi James Bond film Moonraker (1979 / trailer) had to do with Ian Fleming's original book – in other words, nadda, other than a few character names.
The plot of Im Banne des Unheimlichen, as to be expected in a German Wallace film, is convoluted and senseless and laden with innumerable suspects, most of whom die one after the other, until the exciting finale when the remaining good guys and gals are barely saved in the nick of time, and the truly unexpected is revealed as the bad guy, the most logical assistant revealed, and all those evil pass onto another realm. In all truth, the action and twists and turns and red herrings fly by so quickly that it is pretty much pointless to even bother to try to solve the case yourself; instead, you should much better just lie back and enjoy some truly fun and crazy ocular events in almost LSD-intense color.
Indeed, the sets and color scheme, as well as general speed of events (or at least the speed in which one laughable scene flies to the next one) are the true joy of the movie, followed by the oddly ridiculous but nonetheless effective costume worn by the killer, the "Lachenden Leiche" (or "Laughing Corpse") – the titular "zombie" of the title The Zombie Walks – as he goes around doing his dirty deeds. Take a look at the office in which Inspector Higgins (the personable Joachim Fuchsberger, familiar from innumerable Wallace films and other fun stuff such as Die weisse Spinne / The White Spider [1963 / indiscriminate scene] and non-fun stuff such as Hotel der toten Gäste [1965]) interviews Professor Bound (Edith Schneider) – isn't the furniture just the stuffed cat's meow? (Professor Bound is one of the negligible suspects on the sidelines, the writer of a book that tells of an untraceable poison, a book of which the only known singular copy [which is on the open shelves of the local library manned by no one other than Ewa Strömberg (of Vampyros Lesbos: Die Erbin des Dracula [1971 / trailer] and Sie tötete in Ekstase [1971 / trailer])] is stolen by the Laughing Corpse from the film's lead heroine – only to be sent to Prof Bond by mail the next day. An ice princess, she is, but not a murderess.)
To claim the sets and color scheme are the true joy of the movie is not, however, a veiled insult. OK, Im Banne des Unheimlichen is not the best of the Wallace films, but it is one of the more enjoyable of the technocolor burlesques of mid-period Rialto productions; the fly in the ointment is in some of the casting – or rather, the casting of the female heroine, Siw Mattson, as the reporter Peggy Ward. Mattson – like the sexy Lillemor "Lill" Lindfors, who not only sings the film's groovy theme song The Space of Today but also plays the singer and murder victim Sabrina – came from Sweden, which in itself is not bad, but regrettably both her acting talents and her character are. She plays the character Peggy less fun and independent than brash and obnoxious, and she quickly begins to annoy whenever she pops up. (I, for one, hoped that the Laughing Corpse would get her when he shows up in her bachelorette pad – but he doesn't.) Still, she does get a few good laughs now and then, particular in relation to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and enough other aspects of the film shine well enough to steal the shadow she casts.
One odd scene that Wallace-newbies or anyone who hasn't seen a lot of the films might find rather long is that at Scotland Yard between the secretary Miss Finley (Ilse Pagé), Inspector Higgins and Sir Arthur (Hubert von Meyerinck) in which they go on and on and on about the retirement of Sir John, but at the time the film was released, the scene was of importance: the popular character of Sir John (played by Siegfried Schürenberg) had been in 12 prior Wallace films, and his sudden departure needed explaining. (The truth was that producer Horst Wendlendt had Schürenberg written out of the franchise instead of giving him his requested raise in salary.) To give credit where credit is due, it was as a stroke of ironic perfection to cast an obvious three dollar bill – he proclaimed it openly, politically, towards the end of his career – as the new elderly skirt-chasing but equally incapable head of Scotland Yard.
Oh, yes, the plot. Let's see, at the funeral of Lord Oliver an unholy laughter suddenly sounds from his coffin which, although promptly dropped by the pallbearers, is nonetheless put in the family crypt unopened. One after another, everyone connected with Lord Oliver – the mortician, the family lawyer (Otto Stern of Der Hund von Blackwood Castle [1968 / trailer]), the blackmailing nightclub singer (Lillemor "Lill" Lindfors), the chauffeur of his brother Sir Cecil, Dr. Brand (Siegfried Rauch of Der Mönch mit der Peitsche [1967 / trailer]) – is being killed by a mysterious person dressed in a black outfit and wearing a death's head. Sir Cecil (Wolfgang Kieling, the former voice of Bert on the German version of Sesame Street) is convinced the killer is his dead brother Lord Oliver, but he won't say why – and indeed, not only does the Laughing Corpse kill his victims by poisoning them with the stinger of Lord Oliver's "missing" scorpion ring, but Lord Oliver's body is no longer in its coffin! Inspector Higgens (Joachim Fuchsberger) from Scotland Yard and the journalist Peggy try to get to the bottom of things even as the bodies drop around them….
All this and a character that has green skin. Groovy – but in no way serious, No matter how straight (almost) everyone plays their role.
To see some groovy lobby cards of the film, go here.

The English trailer:

R.I.P.: Tura Satana

Tura Satana

July 10, 1938 – February 4, 2011

Born Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi in Hokkaidō, Japan to parents of Japanese-Filipino (her dad) and Scot-Irish-Cheyenne (her mom) descent, following WWII she and her family ended up living in the Westside of Chicago, where her exotic appearance (and her early development) gained her a lot of unwanted attention and harassment and, at the age of 9, a gang rape by five men, none of whom were ever prosecuted. (She herself says that she later hunted them down one by one and exacted her own revenge, whatever that might have been probably not enough of one.) Prompted by that experience to learn martial arts, she soon landing in reform school and then, at the age of 13, an arranged (if short-lived) marriage to John Satana, whose last name she retained the rest of her life. By the age of 15, after a brief spell in Los Angeles as a blues singer and model (bathing suits and nude), she became an "exotic dancer" and went on to perform alongside such names as Tempest Storm and Candy Barr. She had her first child at 19...
By 1963, she was once again in Hollywood, where she made her credited film debut as a hooker named Suzette Wong in Billy Wilder’s comedy Irma la Douce (the un-credited film debut of James Caan, somewhere in the background) and appeared (uncredited) as a stripper in Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (something she did again in 1966 in Our Man Flint [trailer]).
Say what you will, Tura Satana's filmography is hardly breathtaking – indeed, it is short enough for a non-smoker to recite in one breath. But, for that, she made one film that put her in a special league shared by few. That film was, of course, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, the last and perhaps major masterpiece of Russ Meyer's early B&W films (the other two arguably lesser masterpieces being the sadly undervalued films Mudhoney [1966 / trailer] and Lorna [1963 / Italian trailer]).
In Pussycat, although co-starring with Haji and Lori Williams, two equally impressive beauties of pulchritude, Tura Satana delivered an amazing tour de force of a performance that not only stole the film but made her, like Betty Page, the innocent and air-headed counterpart of Satana's ass-kicking powerhouse Varla, a Pop Icon of sexuality and Rock n Roll.
At the time of its release, despite all popularity and acclaim it has since gained, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! was hardly a hit (neither as a "real" film or an exploitation film) and neither her career nor that of her co-stars really went anywhere. Haji made a few more films with Russ Meyer (including one of his major disappointments, Motor Psycho [1965]), Lori Williams more-or-less disappeared, and Satana went on to do two other film jobs of note, both for the cult director of psychotronic weirdness, Ted V. Mikels (official website), before being shot by a former lover in 1973.
After recovering, she worked as a nurse for four years and then briefly as a dispatcher for the LAPD. She married the retired police officer Endel Jurman in 1981, the same year she broke her back in a car accident. (They remained married until his death in 2000).
At the time of her death, in Reno, NV., at the age of 72, Tura Satana was experiencing a slight comeback in guest appearances in cult films (both by Mikels and an occasional Young Turk) and personable talking head in cult-film documentaries. Among other projects she had in the works was a documentary of her life story; one hopes that it will still see the light of day.

Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill (1965)

The film that is she and that she was. (If you have not yet seen this film, you are reading the wrong blog.) Russ Meyer's masterpiece needs no introduction, nor does Tura Satana as Varla.

The Astro-Zombies (1968)

A "horror" film by the truly unique no-budget cult filmmaker Ted V. Mikels. His psychotronic films are of the like/hat nature: few people who have seen one remain indifferent to the experience. Prior to Re/Search's Incredibly Strange Films, his name was hardly familiar, though his films did sometimes make it to the sleaziest of grindhouses. Plot: A former employee of the Space Agency creates zombies to wreak revenge; the go on the rampage and catch the eye of both the CIA and an international spy ring led by the eponymously femme fatale Satana (Tura Satana). Like all of Mikels's films, the film is pure turkey – but hell, who doesn't like Turkey Time?

The Doll Squad (1973)

Her second film for Ted V. Mikels, this time as a much more minor character, Lavella Sumara, one of many Doll Squad members. The Doll Squad is the unsung inspiration of the original Charlie's Angels television series, going by what Tura Satana has said in many an interview like this one with Lori Williams. The Doll Squad is, as DVD Drive-In describes it, "[...] a Bond-esque espionage thriller with a feminist slant. When the government is threatened by a madman blowing up U.S. space shuttle rockets, it's up to an elite squad of beautiful but aggressive and deadly woman to stop him." More prime-cut Turkey Time!!!

Mark of the Astro-Zombies (2002)

Mikels' first direct to video follow-up to The Astro-Zombies (1968).

Sugar Boxx (2009)

In Cody Jarrett’s homage to women in prison films, Tura has a brief appearance as a Judge.

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009)

In this wonderful animation trash film, her Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Character Varla makes an all of ten-seconds-long animated guest appearance alongside the film's director Rob Zombie before both get squashed flat. One can't help be left with the feeling that her character should have been accorded more and a better fate, but then, many a "guest appearance" in this film give the same impression. Click on the title above to go to the review of the film on A Wasted Life.

Astro Zombies: M3 - Cloned (2010)

Mikels' latest (2nd) sequel to The Astro-Zombies (1968). Supposedly she appears in it somewhere.

An exotic beauty, a survivor, and a true Pop Icon: Tura Satana.
The world would have been a poorer place without her.

Lastly, to return to Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Tura Satana's claim to Pop Icon immortality, but to look at another popular aspect of the film: the title track. Over the years, the film's lead song Faster Pussycat! has gained great popularity and been included on many a sampler. Here is the opening credit sequence of the film with the full version of the song by The Bostweeds.

Were it not for the song Faster Pussycat!, it could probably be safely said that The Bostweeds would be completely unknown and forgotten; as it is, virtually nothing is known nowadays about the garage band. Rick Jarrard, a producer at RCA (of Harry Nilsson, Jefferson Airplane, etc) is commonly given as the lead singer, primarily because he is credited as the writer of the song. (Though he is still alive, he himself has never commented about his involvement in the song or The Bostweeds.)
An unnamed source at this dead blog here, who claims to have played with the band, flatly states that Rick Jarrard was not the vocalist of the group and that "Rick, along with Jim Hilton, were our producers at the time and it was through them that we got to do the sound track for the film. We recorded the tracks in a home studio up above Sherman Oaks, Ca. all in one night. We did a bunch of singles under various names at that time."
The vocalist of the Bostweeds is supposedly no one other than a former Mouseketeer named Lynn Ready. Lynn Ready, however, who has dropped out of public sight, has never gone on record about this.
Nonetheless, what is a fact is that in addition to their one-sided release of Faster Pussycat!, The Bostweeds also released another 45 with the A-side Little Bad News and the B-side Simple Man. And while the sound of classic garage grunge bands is often interchangeable, the sound of Little Bad News is extremely similar to Faster Pussycat!
Listed as one of the song's composers is no one less than Lynn Ready. But other than that, the rest is shrouded in mystery – once again proving that we are all just dust in the wind...

Short Film: Bendito Machine (Peru/Spain 2006)

Bendito Machine is the name of this month's Short Film, the 2006 winner of the Aniboom Awards. The Flash animation film is by Jossie Malis, an illustrator and animator currently living in Barcelona.

Born in Peru to Peruvian-Chilean parents, he moved to Santiago de Chile in the 80s, where he graduated high school and went on to study advertising and graphic arts. He followed that with some additional studies at the NYFA in NYC, before moving on to Barcelona, where he completed his Masters in Stop Motion Animation at 9zeros, a Catalonian school of animation. He still lives in Barcelona, busy as a bee with all sorts of projects. His website, Zumbakamera, is full of interesting illustrations and films — including Bendito Machine II (2008) and Bendito Machine III (2009) — and is well worth a long perusal. The guy either takes some good drugs or he is truly creative, maybe both.

A fan of animated film since he saw his first one at the age of four, his product that which is indefinitely international in nature and look with that which shows echoes of the indigenous art of South America — take a wild guess where Bendito Machine fits in.

I suppose I could do a write up about Bendito Machine, but the fact of the matter is someone already did one which is much better than anything I would probably write. Namely Andrew S. Allen, at his great short film website, Short Film of the Week.

On March 31, 2007, Andrew S. Allen had the following to say about Bendito Machine: "Jossie Malis uses a powerful, graphic animation style to tell the story of human evolution and its effects on religion and industry. A small, prosperous village is overtaken by a more powerful tribe with methods for more efficient and more enjoyable living. All told in a limited space with an extremely limited palate, this short uses simple techniques to tell a much bigger story. Painstakingly animated entirely in Flash, Bendito Machine avoids the usual pitfalls of Flash animation. Malis’s animation feels incredibly organic — supported by well-crafted sound effects. […]"

Ten Best Films in 2010

For the second time since the creation of this blog, A Wasted Life presents its annual list of the "Ten Best Films" of the last year. Of the 67 films reviewed in 2010 on A Wasted Life, the films ranged from truly bad crap to real treasures—the treasures being both treasures of quality and true treasures of crap. But like last year, the choice here is also not necessarily based on the quality of the film, but rather how it affected the viewer. Did it leave A Wasted Life open-mouthed in shock? Was it fun to watch? Did it truly entertain? (Not even Spielberg films manage to do that all the time—in fact, nowadays his films often annoy more than anything else.) All were new discoveries: films seen for the first time, some with no prior knowledge of what was to unreel. The order is arbitrary and based purely on the decidedly personal taste of A Wasted Life—so if you don't agree the selection, tuff nuts.

The finer points of the selection criteria are explained in the intro to the Best of 2009 list. Essentially, however, aside from the criteria stated above, two other decisive points are that the films chosen do not necessarily have to have been made in 2010, they simply watched have to have been watched by A Wasted Life for the first time in 2010, and, furthermore, none of the 12 "Short Film(s) of the Month" come into consideration.
Thus, due to the latter point, neither Alma (Spain, 2009) nor The Pearce Sisters (Great Britain, 2008) made it to the list, though both short films are truly breathtaking.
Two full-length films, Witchfinder General / The Conqueror Worm (Great Britain, 1968 / trailer) and The Reflecting Skin (Great Britain, 1990 / trailer) were disqualified because they were not a newly discovered films, but favorite films re-watched and finally reviewed. (So, though not included on the list below, they nonetheless receive high recommendations as films to watch. The Reflecting Skin is particularly a film that will truly burn itself onto your brain, scarring you forever...)
The final list of ten has been pared down from a total of 13 new discoveries watched the last year that A Wasted Life felt as being truly worthwhile, even if most probably cannot seriously be described as "good" in mainstream, traditional senses. (Fuck mainstream, traditional senses.) In fact, some can only be described as truly bad—but they sure left an impression and are well worth watching a couple of more times.
The two films that didn't make the cut? The eurotrash gore fest Les mémés cannibales / Rabid Grannies (Belgium, 1988), and the poverty row debut film of Daddy Brady Robert Reed, Bloodlust! (USA, 1961). One and all, they are films that truly left our jaws on the floor for a variety of different reasons, but they were just shy of that extra special kick needed to make the final cut.
Those that did make the final cut follow below in no particular order, other than for the final film. The titles are all linked to the original reviews presented on A Wasted Life. Read and enjoy – or better: go watch them all yourself.

So here they are, A Wasted Life's Best Films of 2010:

Les triplettes de Belleville / The Triplets of Belleville (France, 2003)

The debut feature-length film of Sylvain Chomet, this wonderful and truly odd animated masterpiece is a visual and surrealistic joy. Virtually no dialog, but for that a lot of great musical interludes. If the film doesn't scare the bejeebers out of your little kids, they might actually enjoy it as much as you will.

The Mutations (Great Britain, 1973)

Also known as The Freakmaker. Is The Mutations a good film? No fucking way. It is a cheap and sordid English exploitation film, a shocker that panders to the lowest denominators of trash and has absolutely no socially redeeming factors to it. Unpleasant to watch, it disturbs and sickens but never scares. What a jaw-dropping experience it is—so grimy that even when seen on TV one can physically feel the filth of the sleazy grindhouses where it originally must have played. Featuring Donald "I-Say-Yes-To-Everything" Pleasance, the pulchritudinous Julie Ege and the muscular cult eurotrash regular Brad Harris, The Mutations pretty much cost director Jack Cardiff his directorial career: while the talented man continued to get jobs as a cinematographer up until he died, never again was he given a film to direct. See this film to find out why.

Evil Aliens (UK, 2005)

More trash extraordinaire! A hilariously gory low budget English film featuring hot babes and aliens that kill and slaughter just for the fun of it, the buckets of blood fly in this fast-paced, tasteless and hilarious film. If you can get past the extremely disgusting early scene of the aliens tearing apart the ass of a stoner with a twirling razorblade dildo, then you know this film is just up your… alley. From Jake West, the director who also brought you Doghouse (2009 / trailer), so you know how low and cheap the jokes are going to be—but, damn, the film is funny! Could have used a bit more breast, though.

Coraline (USA, 2009)

A technical marvel and wonderful horror film for kids and adults alike. Not for the faint-hearted or impressionable, but from frame one to the end, Coraline is a treat for the eyes. Like Les triplettes de Belleville / The Triplets of Belleville (France, 2003), if Coraline doesn't scare the bejeebers out of your little kids, they might actually enjoy it as much as you will.

Lady Frankenstein (Italy, 1970)

The perfect example of eurotrash, it has everything you could possibly want in a Gothic horror film, euro or Yankee: a production that alternates between looking cheap-shit and extra-fine; a name star (Joseph Cotton) slumming it that disappears ten minutes into the picture; gratuitous but forever appreciated nudity; sleazy sex and graphic violence; ugly men and purty womin; a totally insane plot and more. At 95 minutes, it flies and never bores—a perfect film for the whole family. In the public domain in the US, you can catch the whole film for free at the Internet Archive—or embedded here, just below.

Slugs: The Movie (Spain, 1988)

OK, first off, this list was begun before Juan Piquer Simón, the director of this movie, died, and this film was on it from the very beginning. So this is not a sympathy vote. Slugs: The Movie is simply, truly, completely true eurotrash finery. It pretends, as so many eurotrash films do, to be an American horror film—but it fools nobody. The plot has more holes than all the porn stars of LA combined and the acting is almost as bad as the dubbing, but the gore is copious and the film hilarious. It is also one of the first horror films around that posits the fact that virginal girls are just as likely to die as sluts, and that assholes have as much of a chance to survive as good guys do of dying. Meat-eating slugs go on a rampage in small-town USA and despite the ever-increasing bloody dead, capitalism will not be stopped! If this film doesn't tickle your eurotrash bone, then you don't have one. A masterpiece of Z-horror, enjoyable from the start to end.

Botched (USA, 2007)

A fun and bloody film that never takes itself too seriously, Botched proves that Stephan Dorff can actually make a good movie on occasion. High camp, copious blood and great dialogue peppered with some capable direction—the first five minutes alone are a proof of true directorial talent—make for a film that flies by quickly and that never leaves the viewer feeling bored or insulted. God only knows why this fine piece of genre splatter flew under the radar to total obscurity, for it really deserves much greater popularity than it has gotten to date. One day, it will surely be rediscovered as a lost gem—be the first on your block to do so!

Save the Green Planet! (Korea, 2003)

Here's a film for fans of enjoyable mental mindfucks. Get past the first five minutes and you're in for a wild and wacky ride that defies description, not to mention any and all expectations you might have or develop while viewing the film. Like Botched above, this Korean film initially met with great resonance at genre film festivals around the globe only to disappear under the bottom shelf after being picked up for release. Is Byeong-gu truly wacko, or is earth really endangered by aliens out to destroy the green planet? Save the Green Planet! will either leave you a total fan or a total hater, but it is highly unlikely you'll go away indifferent. This flick has everything from slapstick to Fellini references to torture porn to social satire and criticism, tying itself up into one weirded-out bow by the film's surprisingly downbeat ending.

Web of Death / Wu du tian luo (Hong Kong, 1976)

A truly Shakespearean Shaw Brothers film from the Golden Age of Hong Kong costume dramas, this Wuxia film is as tacky and trashy as the best of them. A bit low on the violence, its convoluted tale is nonetheless enjoyable, enhanced by some of the best set design and lighting of the genre and featuring a splendid color scheme of green and red that is a true visual treat. Had Maria Bava been a filmmaker in Hong Kong, this is probably what his films would have looked liked. All that and a magical killer spider that sounds like an elephant—what more could you possibly want? OK, maybe it doesn't hold a candle to later Hong Kong versions of Romeo & Juliet like The Bride with White Hair (Hong Kong, 1993 / trailer), but that is aside the point—Web of Death is older, an early classic, and therefore should be treasured for what it is: vintage Shaw Brothers sock-em, chop-em idiocy.

Mary and Max (Australia, 2009)

This wonderful claymation film narrates the tale of the life-long friendship between a frumpy Australian girl growing up in the suburbs and her pen pal, a decidedly socially inept New York Jew with Asperger's Syndrome. Though we hate to list films in order of preference here at A Wasted Life, it would do the film injustice not to proclaim Mary and Max as the "Best Film of the Last Year". Made in 2009, it received such limited theatrical release outside of Australia that it can almost be called a direct-to-DVD release. Luckily, here in Berlin it actually played a week in O.m.U ("original language with subtitles"), and as a result of the director's previous four short films—one of which, Cousin, was the Short Film of the Month for May 2009—we beelined for the cinema to see it. And aren't we happy we did! A technical joy, a visual pleasure, and a non-stop laugh—despite many topics and events that are anything but funny. A beautiful film that deserves far greater recognition than it has been given.



And finally, an extra film to end A Wasted Life's list of Ten Best Films of 2010: as an added attraction, here is the best film watched by but never reviewed on A Wasted Life.

The Other Final (Netherlands, 2003)

As many of you know (and many probably don't), in July, Spain won the 2010 World Cup when (we are happy to say) they defeated the Netherlands 1-0 in the final match. (About the only thing that would have made us happier would have been if Uruguay had beaten Germany for third place, but that wasn't to be.) But though the Dutch didn't win first place, at least they were there this time around—rather unlike 2002, when they didn't even make it to the Cup. One fine fellow of the Land of Orange, Johan Kramer, took the opportunity to make this truly great but unknown Dutch film, a wonderful film that truly captures the love of the sport. The Dutch play a nasty game—not only can spit well (1990), they have some truly amazing Kung Fu kicks (2010)—but at least they grow some good weed and when they aren't playing the game, they also seem to have an understanding of the spirit of the game. The Other Final takes the two lowest rated FIFA teams of 2002 and puts them together for a match, "the Other Final." One of the greatest sports films ever.