''Don't Take Me Home'' is a

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Welsh

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, directed by Jonny Owen.

Synopsis

The film recounts the saga of

Wales national football team The Wales national football team () represents Wales in international Association football, football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the governing body for football in Wales. They have been a member of FIFA since ...

to qualify for their first major tournament in 58 years, the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

. To get there they had to overcome huge obstacles including the suicide of their young and talented coach,

Gary Speed Gary Andrew Speed (8 September 1969 – 27 November 2011) was a Welsh professional footballer and manager. As manager of Wales, Speed is often credited as being the catalyst for the change in fortunes of the national team and as setting t ...

Cast

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a right winger, most notably for Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, and the Wales national ...

as Himself * Chris Coleman as Himself *

Aaron Ramsey Aaron James Ramsey (born 26 December 1990) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Cardiff City and captains the Wales national team. Ramsey mainly plays as a box-to-box midfielder, but has also been deployed on the l ...

as Himself *

as Himself (archive footage) * Ashley Williams as Himself

Reception

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

s film critic Gwilym Mumford, gave the film three out of five stars, stating: "At a time when Senna and OJ: Made in America are twisting the sports documentary into exciting new shapes, this is a fairly workaday affair, but in its brisk, cheerful telling it does a solid job of evoking the thrill of the Dragons’ unlikely run." Stephen Carty from ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' gave it four out of five stars and wrote: "The team's remarkable journey is detailed in this enjoyable documentary, which captures the passion and spirit that the players demonstrated during the competition. As you might expect, it features footage from each of their matches, as well as reflective interviews with the players and the team's manager, Chris Coleman. These exchanges aren't particularly revealing (football interviews rarely are), but the team's story is inspiring, uplifting and infectious. Happily, the same can be said about the film." Greg Cochrane writing for ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' gave ''Don't Take Me Home'' four out of five stars.

Kate Muir Kate Muir is a Scottish writer, women's health campaigner and documentary maker. Her book, ''How to Have a Magnificent Midlife Crisis'' was published in 2025, following ''Everything You Need to Know About the Menopause (But Were Too Afraid to ...

from ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' disliked the film. She gave it only one out of five stars and wrote: "The publicity describes it as “the incredible true story of the Wales football team’s 2016 Euros success”, but Don't Take Me Home is more a compilation of interviews and match footage than a cinema documentary, and some of it is shot on wobbly upright

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

. Fans of the Welsh underdogs that made good will enjoy reliving memories and Gareth Bale's goals, but there is little here for the general viewer."

References

External links

* * 2017 documentary films 2017 films British documentary films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films English-language documentary films {{UK-documentary-film-stub