I watched this film on TV at the time and it always left an impression on me.
Being of West Indian heritage, I could very much identify with the language, culture and racism of the period.
And the 1-star review is hopelessly misplaced in light of a recent report commissioned by the ECB which shows the game is, sadly, riddled with racism, sexism and classism from top to bottom.
Rather than being a "potent social glue", the film, perhaps rather presciently, shines a light on the reality of the game for those who are not White, male and upper-class.
Regardless, the film rather betrays its modestly-budgeted origins with some choppy editing and unresolved narrative threads, but is still rather enjoyable when it is taken in its context - a snapshot of 80's Britain for life as an ethnic minority.
Remarkably, it's available to buy on DVD and I would very much recommend it - even the cricket scenes are reasonably convincing!
Plot summary
To mark the conclusion of their "Third World Week" celebration, a cricket team in a small English village invites a black cricket team from South London to a charity game with comical results.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
February 18, 2020 at 10:48 AM
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Movie Reviews
Very much of its time.
Flawed but interesting
This is a film about the late 70s made in the late 80s. It is therefore very much of its time and reflects the political mores and attitudes of that period.
You can form your own judgement as to how far we have progressed since then, but the film is a frank and honest endeavour to raise and poke (some) fun at some of the discrimination and racism of the time. It also comes with a gentle humour all of its own, and has a strong black Brixton cast (including Norman Beaton and suzette llewellyn) who overshadow the slightly bland white midsummer village cast (including Nicholas Farrell).
Its an interesting idea, but either the screenplay was poor or the editing cut lacked a clear sense of continuous story. There were probably just too many subplots and minor characters that had a backstory but werent given sufficient screen time to be explained, developed or cared about.
This is not really a cricket or sports film, but nonetheless the game is reflected reasonably accurately in the later game action scenes, certainly more realistically than some other films we could mention.
Overall i quite enjoyed it despite a slightly downbeat and unresolved ending.
Also interesting for an early appearance by Neil Morrissey as a racist lout, and Ross Kenp.
