'who am i supposed to be without football?'

Obviously you've never played football. When any player retires after devoting so much of their life to the game they face a void which is completely foreign to them.

Just because you cant relate to it, doesn't mean it's not correct.

I have to agree with paullyboy... there is an alarming rate of depression, even suicide, in former football players because all they know is footaball. It does sound like a stupid question to people who've never played or been around the game, but to others it most certainly isn't.

This film was written and produced by people who did have to cope this specific "stupid" question. Obviously, they felt it was a traumatic adjustment to leave behind their vocation after excelling at it for around 20 years. It's a question which a fair percentage people who have/had any sort of rewarding professional or and trade career would find worth exploring in a film.

Whatever it's production shortcomings might be, "Final Winter" is an honest effort to delve into an issue which is both complex and involving. Furthermore, it's a film for 30-something adults, which is getting more rare these days (with the exception of directors like the Cohen Brothers, Jane Campion, Peter Weir, etc.)

My only problem with the acting was the ubiquitous John Jarratt, who seems to be in every other Aussie film lately. Alas, he's always been a one-note actor, particularly when playing villains. The last time I thought he was convincing in a role was around 20 years ago in the only episode of "Inspector Morse" shot in OZ, but then he could hardly to go wrong when most of Jarratt's scenes were with the brilliant Kevin Whatley (Sgt., now D.I., Lewis).

I'm not claiming this film is in the class of "Shine" or even "The Club", but it's well worth a DVD rental for it's historical elements alone.


"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." W.B. Yeats