Murderball (American Documentary Competition) Directed by: Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro A&E Indie Films co-produced this film

The world of sports is one that is typically viewed in civilized society as one that separates the strong from the weak, the decrepit from the well-able. Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro in their documentary, “Murderball,” however, set out to show the world that against all odds, one can still succeed at what they want despite impairment and handicap. With a somewhat fragmented structure that both explains the objective of the film, while gradually introducing each character and how their individual stories fit into the one at large, while also taking side-trips into a seemingly unrelated case that later becomes important in reinforcing the message of the film, “Murderball” succeeds as a documentary fit for competition in the 2005 Sundance Film Festival’s “American Documentary” competition.

“Murderball” is an essay detailing the sport that has come to be known as such. Created first in Canada by a group of disgruntled paraplegics eager to show the world that they still had the ability to compete in sports, they created “wheelchair rugby,” based on the popular bipedal version of the sport, combining similar, wheelchair-friendly rules, including the potential (and frequent reality) for excessive violence and injury. Because of the dangers inherent in participation, the name of the sport, while officially known as wheelchair rugby, morphed into “murderball,” and has grown to become a well-respected sport in the world of athletics, and is even an official sport in the Summer Paralympic Games.

The film focuses primarily on the American murderball team and their journey to the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. The team consists of members of many different backgrounds with different levels of paralysis associated with being a paraplegic. Beginning first at one of their games against the Canadian team, the Americans are established as one of the most consistently good murderball teams in the professional arena of the sport. While briefly introducing each of the players at this moment, including the Canadian coach (later a major player in the documentary), the film focuses here, and throughout the film, on the schematics and dangers of the sport.

Like many documentaries, however, the film is not merely about what the title says its about, but rather how the human elements of the story are changed and defined as they cope with whatever obstructions lie in their way. It is the same for “Murderball,” focusing primarily on spacing the introductions and personal stories of each member of the American team in order to not only continually explain murderball, but also to explain the personal stories of how each member of the team became a paraplegic, and the difficulties they’ve had since in adjusting to their disability and continuing on with their lives as normally as possible. Mark Zupan, for example, an intimidating player in the game covered in tattoos with a buzzed hair style and goatee, elaborates that he was sleeping the bed of a truck when his friend, drunk while driving it, slammed on his breaks, sending Zupan into a ditch where he sustained his injuries and remained until he was found hours later. Only adding to the drama, the film occasionally checks up with the friend of Zupan responsible for the incurring of the paralysis, and the reparations of the relationship between the two. The film frequently jumps back and forth between the personal stories of all the members of the American team, strengthening the sympathy we have for each member, and also, increasing the amount of enthusiasm the audience is expected to have for the American team in their march to victory.

The documentary also focuses on two other aspects of “the other side” within the film to contrast who seems to be the main characters (the American team). One of these personas is the Canadian team’s coach, Joe Soares, a paraplegic himself and former American murderball athlete. The man is consumed not by anger at his disability, but by the fact that though he claimed a number of victories for the American team in his heyday, was rejected from the team since the onset of natural declining athletic abilities common to every athlete with aging, disabled or not. Ala-Benedict Arnold, Soares quits his American murderball affiliations and sets out to coach the Canadian team with one goal, and one goal only– to beat the Americans, and beat into them a sense of regret for having rejected him. This passion is so all-consuming throughout the film that Soares not only suffers a heart attack from stress related to coaching, but also places this ultimate goal fo victory above his family (toasting his hopes of the Canadians winning at his own anniversary dinner with his wife), and giving his son an inferiority complex for pursuing academics and music, rather than athletics.

The other character introduced in the documentary is that of “the inspired”–a young man who recently became a paraplegic in a motocross accident. His story creates the inspirational elements of “Murderball,” taking the film from the mere levels of a dissertation on the sport to inspiring the motocross victim, who had been depressed at the loss of full-motion, into believing that there is life beyond paralysis, and that life lies in regaining independence through murderball.

Using the film only as an explanation of the sport ‘murderball’ would have made this film informational enough to watch that it would have only sustained an audience’s interest for about a half an hour, maximum. However, because of the decision of the filmmakers to structure the film around the sport, as well as the stories of three human elements–that of the American team, Joe Soares, the Canadian coach, and a recent paraplegic–and to do so sparsely throughout the film (while also sprinkling interesting tidbits about life as a paraplegic, such as how to have sex), is what really makes “Murderball” not only worth watching, but inspirational to the fully-abled person, and disabled person alike. To watch the evolution of those who have found themselves disadvantaged or slighted in some way, but who manage to overcome that block in the road truly makes the story an inspirational one, and what makes “Murderball” such an interesting film to watch, beyond the athletic interest suggested by the name. The film is not about “murderball,” per say, but about how the sport is a coping mechanism that restores independence, and brings inspiration to all.