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‘Murderball’ brings something different to Greer Auditorium |
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Thursday, 17 November 2005 |
 | Special to The Appalachian
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by KYLE CONRAD
Lifestyles Reporter
The Appalachian Popular Programming Society and I.G. Greer Auditorium
welcome the hugely celebrated and inspirational “Murderball,” a film
about the quadriplegic rugby team competing in the Paralympics in
Athens.
The film, which is the winner of six prestigious awards including
Documentary Audience Award (Sundance Film Festival) and Golden Space
Needle Award for Best Documentary (Seattle International Film
Festival), follows a team of wheelchair-bound athletes as they compete
in an intensely violent sport called Murderball.
The film follows legendary “Quad Rugby” player Joe Soares, a former
Team USA standout and one of the fiercest competitors to ever play in
the World Quad Rugby Championships. Soares, stricken with polio as a
child, becomes captain of Team Canada after he is cut by Team USA.
“Murderball” highlights the rivalry of Soares and Team USA member Mark
Zupan. Zupan, who became a quadriplegic after begin thrown from the
bed of a pickup truck, is one of the players who labels Soares a
traitor for coaching the rival Canadians.
According to a press release on www.murderballmovie.com, filmmakers
initially feared the documentary would make quadriplegia “too sexy.”
“We realized we were missing the most dramatic part of the story - the
transition from able-bodied to quad,” co-director Dana Adam Shapiro
said in the press release.
“Right after their accidents, doing everyday normal things like
maneuvering a fork, going to the bathroom, and talking to a girl could
suddenly become painful, earth-shattering moments.
“We figured if we could show just a hint of what it is like for someone
else, it might give the audience insight into the monumental willpower
it took for our players to go from sipping their food in rehab to
competing at the Paralympics in Greece,” Shapiro said.
Murderball has been described as “tough and touching” and “honest and
refreshing,” and, as film critic Rob Thomas of the Capital Times put
it, “If Murderball teaches us anything, it’s that quadriplegia isn’t
for wussies.”
Although Murderball could have been presented as an emotional and
inspiring story, filmmakers said they wanted it to instead be “hard
hitting and dramatic.”
“I hate inspiring disability movies,” co-director Henry-Alex Rubin said
in the press release. “We never wanted to make one of those
up-with-people, pat-on-the-back, good-for-you-films. A lot of stories
about people overcoming obstacles are unintentionally condescending.”
APPS film chair Courtney E. Cooper said APPS decided to bring
“Murderball” to campus not because it was inspirational or
heart-warming, but because of its unique story line and unquestioned
success.
“I know the movie is inspiring,” Cooper said.
“But it’s one of the few documentaries like this, and it’s just a very well made film.”
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