Murderball
Wheelchair sports are sexy.
That's what this acclaimed MTV documentary wants you to believe. It's a noble intent, but it's almost a slap in the face to the film's worthy subjects that they do try and sexxxx it up so much.
You could imagine the eyes of the filmmakers lighting up when they found out someone somewhere, once upon a time, referred to the sport of wheelchair rugby as ‘Murderball', but the truth is that the game itself isn't all that violent or exciting, no matter how fast the editing is or how much rock music they play over it. But that's really beside the point. What makes this film great are the group of guys behind the game, their amazing individual stories and inspirational courage and tenacity. Not that they'd like to be viewed that way. These guys don't want to be seen as victims, cripples, disabled, and certainly don't want anyone feeling sorry for them.
After introducing these guys the actual sport all but disappears for a while, (a long while actually) as we hear the tales about the accidents and diseases that put the team in their wheelchairs, and get a glimpse into their everyday lives – discovering along the way, among other things, that chicks dig disabled dudes (“we give good head”, claims one).
The main focus for a lot of the film is on Mark Zupan, who incidentally seems to have done quite nicely for himself indeed (check out the choice bikini shot of his missus on the back of the DVD cover for further proof of the film trying to sexxx up the sport.) A guy described by a friend as “an asshole before the accident, and an asshole after it” there really would be no film without him. His story runs parallel with a young guy recently paralysed in a bike accident, and we get a sobering insight into the frustration and hardship of a life completely changed by an unfortunate twist of fate. Their two stories intersect when Zupan gives a talk to other paraplegics on wheelchair rugby, and it's a great moment seeing how thrilled the young kid is at the chance to ride Zupan's Mad Max looking modified wheelchair, even if it does feel like an event that was conveniently staged to happen that way.
Then it's back to the game, Murderball in case you forgot, as we enter the Athens Paralympics. The Americans are up against rivals Canada , with emotions heightened since the coach for Canada is Joe Bishop, one of their own, defected from the US . Joe is the other main subject of Murderball , a man to whom the game is everything. A coarse, arrogant, bordering-on-outright unpleasant man, in any other film he would be the villain, but here his tale is just another side to a bigger story. It's just not quite the sexxxxy story of kick-ass, bone-crunching, high-fiving, rock'n'roll Murderball that MTV thinks it has on its hands.