by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
When I saw that HBO Max was releasing a documentary on the lawsuit between the U.S. Women’s National Team and the U.S. Soccer Federation, it immediately had my attention.
LFG, an abbreviation for a phrase I cannot spell out here, is distributed by HBO Max and CNN Films. It follows the ongoing litigation between the most successful women’s soccer nation in the world and the federation that pays the players’ wages when they are representing their country. Back in 2019, months before winning their record fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup, the U.S. Women’s National Team filed a lawsuit suing their federation on International Women’s Day. They sought equal pay and working conditions to their male counterparts. The film chronicles the fight through interviews with a handful of the players and legal counsel representing the team in their suit.
To set the scene, I am a pretty big soccer fan. (Apologies to our international audience. I’ve never understood why American football is called football when they barely use their feet either, but here we are.) I had a higher baseline of knowledge than the average person going into this documentary. I follow a handful of soccer writers on my Twitter feed, which kept me abreast of the developments in the case, but it wasn’t something I had a deep knowledge of. However, it was something that I was always interested in reading more about. U.S. Soccer in particular serves as a great illustration of the difference in pay between men’s and women’s teams, given the success of the women in comparison to that of the men and the enthusiasm that the women’s team generates.
Regardless of your level of knowledge of the situation or interest in sports, I think this is a worthwhile documentary. For those that are unfamiliar with either the landscape of international soccer or the lawsuit itself, the documentary does to a good job of giving the viewer the sense of the situation and the context in which the lawsuit is being undertaken. Particularly, it shows how mainstream the discussion got in the aftermath of the World Cup win.
Even for someone that watched the World Cup Final and follows the team, there was stuff that I had forgotten, like the equal pay chant that broke out in the stadium at the World Cup Final, the cringey speech from the U.S. Soccer Federation president at the victory parade, or the legal argument by the U.S. Soccer Federation for their lawsuit. Realizing how much the lawsuit has been weighing on the players’ minds and how much work they’ve been putting in was an enlightening aspect of the documentary.
Though the team was unanimous in agreeing to file the lawsuit, the documentary gets perspective from just a handful of players. It uses their interviews to make a compelling, personal, and persuasive case. It would have been nice to hear from a couple of players that aren’t on camera, like Alex Morgan, but it does give us a brief sense of how a few of the others we don’t hear from specifically fit in to the team. The star and leading voice of the documentary is team captain Megan Rapinoe, who rocketed to icon status during the World Cup with her play and social media spat with then-President Donald Trump.
The documentary is not perfect. It’s showing a particular point of view, which is very much about the players and their point of view. However, that’s not entirely the fault of the directors, Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine. The only perspective we get from the other side is a few video clips or what’s written in legal documents. The documentary notes at the beginning that the U.S. Soccer Federation refused their requests for anyone to be interviewed on camera — though that did not stop the federation from releasing a Twitter thread following the release of the documentary to quibble with facts they disagreed with. The structure of the film doesn’t always flow smoothly, as it’s not until more than an hour in that we get a better sense of how long this fight has truly been going on. That’s a minor issue for me, as I found the entire narrative compelling. It’s not a negative for me, but the lawsuit is not fully resolved as of yet. So, for those who want complete closure at the end of the film, that’s not what you’re getting.
Despite being solely from the players’ perspective, it’s a documentary that’s well-produced, enlightening, and well worth your time if it sounds like it might interest you. I have no doubt that my interest in soccer and this team contributed to how much I enjoyed this documentary. However, it’s also something where, whether you’re interested in sports, politics, or a number of social issues, you will be able find an aspect that you can latch on to. The film makes its case persuasively and it’s hard not to side with the players at the end.
LFG already.
Grade: A-
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