Summary
We Are the Champions is a short, easy-to-watch but commendably strange documentary series showing audiences quirky competitions.
Netflix documentary series We Are the Champions season 1 was released on the streaming service on November 17, 2020.
If someone would have told me that there is a sport out there that requires a block of cheese to roll down a dangerously steep hill with participants chasing after it and the first person to reach the bottom wins, then I’d probably believe them — mostly because 2020 is the year of the absurd.
But that doesn’t mean seeing it in action is not strange. Netflix’s We Are the Champions explores unconventional sports out there and how dedicated supporters nurture them. This is a series that is meant to be odd, but it’s also difficult to take your eyes off it.
“Cheese Rolling” is the opening chapter and it makes the farmlands of England two steps away from being mistaken for Hobbiton. Unsurprisingly, this is a sport that causes many injuries; the leading female subject of the episode — a three-time world champion at the time of recording — has a dislocated collarbone for life, but still, she rolls on to attempt to clinch a fourth title. It’s this kind of obtuse world that is difficult to imagine in metropolitan communities. If anything, We Are the Champions is worth watching for the first episode alone.
Other sports that are brought to the surface in this Netflix series are Chilli Eating, Fantasy Hairstyling, Yo-Yo, Dog Dancing and Frog Jumping. All bizarre insights but hard to look away.
And many will likely question the purpose of a documentary like this; I’d argue that during times of isolation, understanding what is weird and wonderful out there outside the realms of conventional sports and competitions is exactly what we need right now.
We Are the Champions season 1 is a short, easy-to-watch but commendably strange documentary series showing audiences quirky competitions.
