This is a surprisingly emotional film - especially when you consider that the protagonists are a group of surprisingly macho guys. Their main qualities are extreme competitiveness, irony, and loads of dark humor that would make a lot of "normal" people cringe.
I, however, LOVED this movie . . . and I'm a non-athletic, flabby, able-bodied, middle-aged, Midwestern housewife! I would hang out with these guys any day of the week.
I found myself tearing up quite often during the film, especially the sequences concerning Joe Soares. I don't admire the route he took (a lawsuit) in dealing with his personal disappointment over being cut from Team USA, but I came to greatly admire his tough exterior and (subsequent to his heart attack) his tenderness with a son who couldn't be more UNLIKE him. Speaking of Joe's son: I have to take issue with a previous reviewer who referred to the boy as "effeminate." The boy is simply not athletic, that's all. He's not FEMININE, for heaven's sake! And I think Joe would probably be the first one to pound the sh*t out of anyone who said so.
The filmmakers did a great job of illustrating that these quad athletes (and by association, ANYONE wheelchair-bound) live lives as full - if not fuller than - the average able-bodied person, including dating and sex. I thought adding the material concerning the particulars of how quadriplegics go about having sex was interesting and quite brave. It's a subject a lot of filmmakers would have - and have in the past - shied away from. This aspect of the movie brought me closer to the guys, rooting for them to find love just as I would for any other young, virile man. And I'm not talking just about the 'Hallmark card' variety of love, either. Frankly, I just wanted them to - you know - "get some."
I found myself screaming at the TV during the rugby matches, and I hardly ever do that during the regular Olympics. I wasn't screaming and crying because of some kind of misplaced admiration for what these men have overcome - but because of the sheer level of fierceness in their hearts and just how much THEY wanted to win. Too many able-bodied, international-level athletes get caught up in the hoopla, the glory, the money, the mega-ego of it all. The quad athletes depicted in the film have their hearts and souls in the exact right place. They're in it for a pure love of the game. They want to move, they want to feel their blood pounding in their ears, they want to feel ALIVE. And they are. Oh, they really ARE.
I didn't want this film to end. I wanted to follow and cheer on these men and their friends/families right up to . . . this very minute.
I will be adding this DVD to my library as soon as possible. It'll take an honored place up right up there with my all-time favorite documentaries.
"Murderball" is a MUST-SEE for anyone looking for what's best in our all-too-human natures.
I, however, LOVED this movie . . . and I'm a non-athletic, flabby, able-bodied, middle-aged, Midwestern housewife! I would hang out with these guys any day of the week.
I found myself tearing up quite often during the film, especially the sequences concerning Joe Soares. I don't admire the route he took (a lawsuit) in dealing with his personal disappointment over being cut from Team USA, but I came to greatly admire his tough exterior and (subsequent to his heart attack) his tenderness with a son who couldn't be more UNLIKE him. Speaking of Joe's son: I have to take issue with a previous reviewer who referred to the boy as "effeminate." The boy is simply not athletic, that's all. He's not FEMININE, for heaven's sake! And I think Joe would probably be the first one to pound the sh*t out of anyone who said so.
The filmmakers did a great job of illustrating that these quad athletes (and by association, ANYONE wheelchair-bound) live lives as full - if not fuller than - the average able-bodied person, including dating and sex. I thought adding the material concerning the particulars of how quadriplegics go about having sex was interesting and quite brave. It's a subject a lot of filmmakers would have - and have in the past - shied away from. This aspect of the movie brought me closer to the guys, rooting for them to find love just as I would for any other young, virile man. And I'm not talking just about the 'Hallmark card' variety of love, either. Frankly, I just wanted them to - you know - "get some."
I found myself screaming at the TV during the rugby matches, and I hardly ever do that during the regular Olympics. I wasn't screaming and crying because of some kind of misplaced admiration for what these men have overcome - but because of the sheer level of fierceness in their hearts and just how much THEY wanted to win. Too many able-bodied, international-level athletes get caught up in the hoopla, the glory, the money, the mega-ego of it all. The quad athletes depicted in the film have their hearts and souls in the exact right place. They're in it for a pure love of the game. They want to move, they want to feel their blood pounding in their ears, they want to feel ALIVE. And they are. Oh, they really ARE.
I didn't want this film to end. I wanted to follow and cheer on these men and their friends/families right up to . . . this very minute.
I will be adding this DVD to my library as soon as possible. It'll take an honored place up right up there with my all-time favorite documentaries.
"Murderball" is a MUST-SEE for anyone looking for what's best in our all-too-human natures.