Thanks Camille for sharing this information about the movie with me. I haven't seen it yet, but just reading the story behind the movie moved me.
This is from the website:
ABOUT THE FILM
Featuring fierce rivalry, stopwatch suspense, and larger-than-life personalities,
MURDERBALL, winner of the Documentary Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for
Editing at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, is a film about tough, highly competitive rugby
players. Quadriplegic rugby players. Whether by car wreck, fist fight, gun shot, or rogue
bacteria, these men have been forced to live life sitting down. In their own version of the
full-contact sport, they battle each other in custom-made gladiator-like wheelchairs, pursuing
gold medals and proving to themselves and to anyone who sees them in action that there is
life after disability.
From the gyms of middle America to the Olympic arena in Athens, Greece,
MURDERBALL tells the story of a group of indomitable, world-class athletes unlike any
ever shown on screen. It will smash every stereotype you ever had about “gimps” and
“cripples.” It is a film about family, revenge, honor, and the triumph of love over loss. But
most of all, it is a film about standing up, even after your spirit, and your spine, have been
crushed.
Based on the article by Dana Adam Shapiro, MURDERBALL was co-directed by Henry-
Alex Rubin and Shapiro, and produced by Jeffrey Mandel and Shapiro. During their long
and intense collaboration, the three filmmakers drew on their individual skills to form a tight,
proficient team.
In the simplest terms, all three shaped the story by bringing distinct talents to the project.
Shapiro, a former magazine editor, dealt directly with the characters and coordinated the
music. Mandel handled many of the business logistics, including rights acquisition and
planning the shooting schedule. And Rubin, who had extensive film school and
filmmaking experience, shot the film and oversaw the technical aspects. “But we all did
a little bit of everything,” says Shapiro, “which is why it is a film by the three of us.
Rubin did interviews. Mandel helped with music. And I shot when we needed two
cameras.” In fact, their creativity and ingenuity knew no boundaries, as the determined
filmmakers labored to make their dream of MURDERBALL a reality.
MURDERBALL addresses the common misconceptions many people have about
quadriplegics. It is important, for example, to establish that a “quad” is a person who has
partial impairment of all four limbs – a quad does not have to be an invalid. As the film
shows, with therapy and the help of wheelchairs, quads can lead independent lives. They
can drive, cook, have sex, and as the opening scene of the film illustrates, put on their pants
one leg at a time, just like everyone else. But the quads who had been athletes, adventurers,
or risk-takers -- or those who dreamed of this kind of life – despaired that they would never
experience extreme physical activity and the rush that accompanies it, until they learned
about Quad rugby. Hearing about Quad rugby gave these young men hope: actually playing
the game gave them a renewed sense of purpose in their lives.
The subject of MURDERBALL, disabled men finding meaning through their involvement in
a sport, could easily have been the basis for a film that was soft and inspirational instead of
hard-hitting and dramatic. But filmmakers Shapiro, Rubin, and Mandel were determined to
avoid the sentimental stereotypes that generally surface in stories about the handicapped. “I
hate inspiring disability movies,” says Rubin. “If I were to see a film about disabilities on
television I’d probably switch the channel.” Adds Shapiro, “We never wanted to make one
of those up-with people, pat-on-the-back, good-for-you films. You know, ‘Look at the
inspiring cripples.’ A lot of stories about people overcoming obstacles are unintentionally
condescending.” Their objective was to make the audience focus on the men, not their
handicaps or their wheelchairs. “I’d like to imagine that people watching the film are
thinking, ‘that guy is so cool,’ or, ‘he’s a jerk,’ just the way they’d react to any on-screen
personality, instead of ‘I’m so proud of him,’” Mandel explains.
To achieve this goal, the filmmakers made a documentary that followed the rules of fiction.
“During the shooting, we discussed fiction films, not docs,” recalls Rubin. “We talked about
movies such as THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE GREAT SANTINI, and
ROCKY. We tried hard to follow an old screenwriting rule: show, not tell. Instead of
bombarding the audience with statistics of how many people become quadriplegics every
year, we tried to capture the expression on newly-injured quad’s face as he was wheeled into
the therapy gym.” By emphasizing the universal elements in the story – sports rivalry and
patriotism, relationships among fathers, sons, best friends, and lovers, the ecstasy of winning
and the agony of losing – the film enables viewers to identify with the “characters” and their
situations. As the people emerge, the wheelchairs recede. “The wheelchairs are supposed to
become seamless parts of the characters, like a signature piece of clothing – not the story
itself,” Mandel observes.
The selection of these characters was crucial to the success of MURDERBALL. The
filmmakers faced the challenge of finding quadriplegic athletes who could carry the drama,
as well as bring the sport to life. Contrary to their expectations, the hardest part of “casting”
was that there were so many interesting candidates with compelling stories for the project.
They had to whittle down the amazing selection of people and anecdotes into a manageable
narrative. As Mandel points out, “The great thing about the milieu of quad rugby is that it
attracts people with strong and distinctive personalities.”
If the quads in MURDERBALL impress and inspire us – and they do – it is not only
because they have overcome insurmountable odds. Judged by any standards, Mark
Zupan, Joe Soares, and the other Quad Rugby players profiled in the film, are
remarkable athletes and even more remarkable men. MURDERBALL – a compelling,
enlightening, and even exhilarating film – is, first and foremost, their story.
*****
Ok, so I still hate cf. Just am glad to be. Just be.
