Netflix’s Home Game is a new documentary series that shines a spotlight on some of the world’s most unique forms of competition, and it is absolutely fascinating. Some of the sports are familiar — one episode is dedicated to women’s roller derby in Austin, and another showcases Scotland’s Highland games. The episode on freediving is also captivating — it uses stunning underwater footage to follow divers in the Philippines as they train to set national records. But the series also features much more niche displays of strength. Calcio fiorentino, for example, is like rugby meets soccer with a little MMA thrown in for good measure. There are no pads and few rules, and the only way men can join one of the four teams — the Blues, the Reds, the Whites or the Greens — is if they were born in a particular area of Florence, Italy. Matches are so grueling and violent that there are only three every year — two semi-finals matches and one finals game. And the prize for the winning team? A cow! There’s also an episode on Makepung Lampit, aka water buffalo drag racing in West Bali; Kok-boru, a game in Kyrgyzstan in which a dead goat is used as the “ball”; and Catch Fétiche, aka Voodoo Wrestling in the Congo. One woman’s wrestling character is Queen Shakira — “I am the one that rips out men’s testicles,” she says. I love her. MEGAN SELING
Watch Home Game on Netflix
