Ange & the Boss: Puskas in Australia, directed by Cam Fink, Rob Heath and Tony Wilson

Review by Antony Cirocco, 01-06-2025

“Ange & the Boss: Puskas in Australia”’ is a feature-length documentary, released on the 17th of March 2025 and directed by Cam Fink, Rob Heath and Tony Wilson. I am not sure why the three of them are all credited as Director, but it doesn’t matter really. They also made another sports documentary called “The Galahs” in 2016, I am sure that is not a pun. 

Ange & the Boss: Puskas in Australia, official movie poster

The film is a low-budget community-grade documentary, which kicks off with a game, featuring Hungary versus England, where Puskas was an attacking forward, scoring goals and beating the English national side. This is followed by a series of testimonials where the audience is told that Puskas was an international A-grade player as good as Pele or Maradonna. Puskas also played for Real Madrid in the 50’s and 60’s in Spain and in the European Championship, he was the real deal. Which begs the question, what was he doing in South Melbourne in the 90's? You will have to watch the film to find out.

One of the testimonials was given by an Australian Football Coach, Ange Postecoglou, who is currently the Tottenham Hotspur Manager (Coach). Ange played at South Melbourne as a young man and Puskas, for a short time, was his coach. That’s the connection between the two of them. This is important because this film is not really about Ange…it’s about Ferenc Puskás, football champion and South Melbourne coach. The film is not really about Ange at all but It’s not a lie, it’s a lure and a good one. If you love your Aussie football, it’s a great watch, hang in there, you will enjoy it.

Also, it’s a sports documentary, but it’s more than that, it’s a story of war, of migration, of resilience, of community building, of mateship and of dogged determination, it’s everything that migrant communities experience when fleeing a war and making a new home, in this case, in Melbourne, Australia. 

This film has a tiny budget but a big heart, and there are not enough quality migrant stories on our screens in Australia, but like the beautiful game itself, migrant stories have been put on the cultural back burner in Australia for a long time.

This is a historical look back on a club, on a community, and a time when Australia was changing fast. This film is unique as it looks at the modernisation of Australia through a football lens. The film is primarily archival, and they threw everything at the edit, newspaper clippings, old VHS game footage, news reels, and photographs. This reflexive approach garnered a visual pastiche of history that is textured, layered and authentic. There are a lot of talking head interviews here but I have seen worse. It’s made up for by the archival, which is fun to watch and keeps the audience engaged. It’s not a greatly creative documentary, expositional interviews shot anywhere they could get the interviewees to sit still and patched up with archival footage, it’s standard stuff but it has a unique authenticity about it, it’s a real look back into the past and rewarding for that reason.

The direction of this documentary is not an exercise in creative flair, but the depth of the archival research and the cultural antennae the directors (plural) all possess has enabled a great window into a world that would have otherwise been lost. The camera work in the interviews is consistent and professional but the variety of locations and possibly the budget inhibited the DOP from consistently showing off any flair. The audio again is professional and tight, great in the interviews, and there is a relevant sound design that makes this film more authentic, it’s not overtly commercial and emotional its not over-sold through dramatic music, like many football documentaries (I may have watched a few too many lately). There were no special effects or titles budget for that matter, so moving on. Same with the production design budget, interview locations were chosen with a “Thislledous!” level of planning by the look of things.

Racism was a feature of Australian Football in the 1950-90’s and this was discussed but kinda skimmed over. The teams back then were all backed by migrant communities, Greek, Italian, Hungarian etc., and this is also mentioned. These ethnic communities were the bedrock of Australian Football, giving rise to a generation of international footballers. Currently, many of Australia’s A-League managers are products of these community groups. As a nation, we have moved on from these community groups to help the game grow, and this film reminds us of that. However, the racism, directed at players from mainstream media and between clubs, of this era is skimmed a little too lightly. There could have been more about the impact of racism on the growth of football in Australia and how the game was viewed by an anglo mainstream (at the time) media and audience who were completely transfixed on the the “Game of the Week” program packed full of English Football teams, and lets not forget the AFL swamping radio, print and television. This could have been addressed with more depth. 

The interviews here provide the bulk of the information and they are interesting, here the directors have shined, with a range of high quality speakers who played the game at the highest level in Australia and a range of authentic voices from the local community and it’s that blend that that gives this film a connected genuine tone.

Oddly and Indearingly, this film is layered with themes of isolation, migration, adaptation, and rising against the odds. It’s a great survival story, of not just for Puskas, but the entire community around him and how they stuck together to rediscover family, friendship, place, culture and success. It’s a shining example of multiculturalism and all its potential and what new cultures bring to the Australian patchwork of communities.

The connection and access to the community around Puskas is excellent, and it enables the audience to discover the world of South Melbourne. If there are any weaknesses here the film is a bit too long. Most likely, the film would have benefited from a trip to Puskas’s homeland, but let us blame the budget on that one. This film kept me hooked as a football fan, but I am not sure those among us who are not so enamoured by the football dream might have stay so hooked.

This film is a great trip into the early days of Australian football, whilst discovering Australia’s strong migrant history. This film's legacy is to document the birth of quality football in Australia and how the migrant communities formed the catalyst, around the country, not just in South Melbourne, of the beautiful game. 

This is an excellent watch for football fans and well worth your time. 3 out of 5.

Review by Antony Cirocco

Check out the trailer