The Wolves

Each scene in The Wolves is a warm-up for a competitive soccer game; the Wolves is a team made up of nine girls; each player is referred to by only her jersey number.

Week One: The Cambodian

The Wolves are sitting in uniform in a circle stretching for the first game of their season. They perform the stretches in unison, knowing exactly what comes next and after what amount of time. Multiple conversations are going on at once. Most of the girls are talking about the deadly Communist reign of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Some are talking about their experiences playing soccer on their periods since #2 has hers and has never played a game with her period before; she is nervous that blood will run down her legs or that her pad will fall out. As the team begins to engage in the latter conversation, #2 runs off.

The rest of the team gossips about #2’s super religious family, and when #46 makes an off-putting comment about #7’s pregnancy, the conversation awkwardly returns to the