1. I Am Ali
Is there any sportstar who’s been as well documented as Muhammad Ali?
This lovingly-constructed portrait of the former heavyweight champ using his own audio journals and interviews is excellent and adds another welcome layer to our understanding of The Greatest.
2. Les Bleus: another history of France
‘Sport is politics’ Lillian Thuram says. And this film shows why.
Les Bleus charts the rise of an incredible football team that won the World Cup and European Championships back-to-back before, predictably, imploding and how their identity was wrapped up in that of modern France.
3. Last Chance U
Friday Night Lights meets Educating Essex, welcome to the world of East Mississippi Community College where players get another shot at success but have to prove themselves in the classroom too.
4. First Team Juventus
Told in four one-hour episodes, this is the behind-the-scenes story of last season at the Old Lady.
A Hard Knocks-type effort it’s perhaps little more than a glossy ad or in-house corporate film at times but with charismatic characters like Buffon, Chiellini and even Del Piero drawing back the curtain on Italy’s most successful club, it’s worth a watch.
5. Stop At Nothing
Another take on one of the most sophisticated sporting frauds of our times. Kimmage and Walsh add their voices to the tale as Armstrong’s rise and fall is pieced together.
6. Icarus
The impact of this Oscar-nominated film is still being felt throughout world sport. Director Bryan Fogel — an amateur cyclist — takes on a drug programme as an experiment, before becoming embroiled in a vast doping scandal with a Russia’s most wanted whistle-blower.
7. Building Jerusalem
If you can bear it, a cast of characters including Martin Johnson, Clive Woodward and Jonny Wilkinson piece together England’s 2003 World Cup win.
What are your recommendations?
