World Cup and Tibetan Monks are not the two topics most likely to pack Americans into cinemas. A combination of the two may actually frighten away some viewers. Reportedly, this is the first film from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and the first film in the Tibetan language, and anyone who sees it will likely look forward to the next film from Bhutan or in the Tibetan language fortunate enough to get world wide distribution. And so it happens that everyone at the monastery is watching as France, a nation Orgyen says has always supported Tibet, wins the World Cup. The plot is simple enough, and the film is beautifully photographed.
Football is one reason.
Though the World Cup is truly a world-wide phenomenon, and The Cup shows that even Tibetan monks are transfixed by it, the fact is that people in the States remain largely uninterested in the sport. The Women's World Cup last year was exciting, particularly because the U.S. team won, but the U.S. men's team has fallen well short of such achievement. Another reason the film might not find the audience it should is that U.S. viewers don't exactly clamor for movies about Tibet. For one thing, the monks' privation is a direct result of the actions of the Chinese. And then the film closes with a series of titles which give updates on the characters, including one which reveals that Orygen dreams of a Tibetan World Cup Team.