Murderball, SIFF 2005
Jun. 1st, 2005 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ironymaidenmurderball is quad rugby. the sport started in Canada, and has since spread throughout the world. the documentary follows the powerhouse USA team on the road to the 2004 Olympics.
the film addresses all of a general audience's questions...what is the definition of quadriplegic? how did you end up in the chair? can you have sex/how does that work? the great achievement for me was that i shorly forgot any pity or afterschool special inspirationalism and i was just watching a sports movie. okay, a sports movie with supercool technology (if you were excited when the IOC approved slap skates, then you understand) of low riding reinforced wheelchairs with bumpers and reinforced wheels.
the story is not about overcoming the obstacles or unresponsive limbs, but about personalities-- and goals scored. the fading star player who fails to make the US national team takes his playbook and coaches team Canada, and the primacy of team USA is no longer assured. everything in the film is history, but since most of the audience doesn't know the sport, it unfolds like news.
i'm torn about how the cutting of the film shows Joe Soares, "the traitor." i want to sympathize with a man who turns lemons into lemonade. the person we see in the film is verbally abusive, and often a distant and disinterested parent. i found myself disliking him, which served to punch up the USA-Canada rivalry (the others we follow are all from the US)and add drama to the film. i think he could have been spun differently, but then it wouldn't be a sports film. both his former teammates and his family call him a traitor. a traitor to his team for transmitting inside information, or a traitor to his country for working for another national team? i certainly had a triumphant moment of schadenfreude at the end of the film - was it sympathy for his maligned intelligent and musical (but unathletic) son, or buying into a bit of patriotic jingoism? (largely the former, although there's a separate post coming about me and nationalism.i'm thinking about what it means to be a citizen, what's reasoned, what's visceral, and why.)
i liked the film. it's fun, informative, and humane. once you know that most of the players broke their necks in car accidents or fights, then it's not so surprising to see them ramming each other at high speed. the soundtrack is loaded with pre-Jesus Built My Hotrod Ministry tunes (it lets me forgive the use of that damned Polyphonic Spree song).
three of the players were at the screening for an excellent Q&A...wish i didn't have to duck out early for my bus.
entered during lunch, Hg.
the film addresses all of a general audience's questions...what is the definition of quadriplegic? how did you end up in the chair? can you have sex/how does that work? the great achievement for me was that i shorly forgot any pity or afterschool special inspirationalism and i was just watching a sports movie. okay, a sports movie with supercool technology (if you were excited when the IOC approved slap skates, then you understand) of low riding reinforced wheelchairs with bumpers and reinforced wheels.
the story is not about overcoming the obstacles or unresponsive limbs, but about personalities-- and goals scored. the fading star player who fails to make the US national team takes his playbook and coaches team Canada, and the primacy of team USA is no longer assured. everything in the film is history, but since most of the audience doesn't know the sport, it unfolds like news.
i'm torn about how the cutting of the film shows Joe Soares, "the traitor." i want to sympathize with a man who turns lemons into lemonade. the person we see in the film is verbally abusive, and often a distant and disinterested parent. i found myself disliking him, which served to punch up the USA-Canada rivalry (the others we follow are all from the US)and add drama to the film. i think he could have been spun differently, but then it wouldn't be a sports film. both his former teammates and his family call him a traitor. a traitor to his team for transmitting inside information, or a traitor to his country for working for another national team? i certainly had a triumphant moment of schadenfreude at the end of the film - was it sympathy for his maligned intelligent and musical (but unathletic) son, or buying into a bit of patriotic jingoism? (largely the former, although there's a separate post coming about me and nationalism.i'm thinking about what it means to be a citizen, what's reasoned, what's visceral, and why.)
i liked the film. it's fun, informative, and humane. once you know that most of the players broke their necks in car accidents or fights, then it's not so surprising to see them ramming each other at high speed. the soundtrack is loaded with pre-Jesus Built My Hotrod Ministry tunes (it lets me forgive the use of that damned Polyphonic Spree song).
three of the players were at the screening for an excellent Q&A...wish i didn't have to duck out early for my bus.
entered during lunch, Hg.
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Date: 2005-06-01 10:56 pm (UTC)Will Ferguson, a Canadian writer and pop-historian/cultural analyst, said that Nationalism "...is like body odour and beer farts; everyone else's always seem much worse than your own. In fact, much like body odour and beer farts, you secretly kind of enjoy your own version of it."
I don't know if this is more true on a national level or a personal level. I don't suppose it makes much difference.