Murderball
Posted by Ross
The Bekka and I caught "Murderball" on DVD the other day. I'd heard it was a great film, but, to tell you quite frankly, it was even better than I expected. Profound, fun, funny. You can't believe these are real people, just because they're such incredible characters. I kept thinking, oh man, I'd love to write a screenplay with Joe Soares (the outspoken, un-PC Barry Bonds of Murderball) as the protagonist.
I'm so used to the sanitized world of professional sports. The NBA and its dress code. The NFL and its no-celebrating of touchdowns. MLB being scandalized because Venezuelan native Ozzie Guillen supports Hugo Chavez and refused to visit Bush at the White House with the World Series champ White Sox.
Sports don't really matter, not in the way eating, breathing, sleeping and shitting matter... to say nothing of fucking. (We learn in the film that most of the quads are sexually functional, and, as one of the guys says, "I'd rather be able to grab my meat than my toothbrush.") But our primal spirit -- the one that we clever homo sapiens try so hard to pretend isn't there beneath our layers of clothing, and underneath our concept of the immortal soul -- lusts for battle and war.
Sportsmanship be damned, these guys cuss and sweat and fight.
As one of the protagonists, when delineating the difference between the '04 Paralympics in Athens and the Special Olympics, says:
"This isn't about a hug. This is about winning a fucking medal."
The irony was that when they did show the hugs, it was more moving and more real than any fucking medal.
Posted by Ross
The Bekka and I caught "Murderball" on DVD the other day. I'd heard it was a great film, but, to tell you quite frankly, it was even better than I expected. Profound, fun, funny. You can't believe these are real people, just because they're such incredible characters. I kept thinking, oh man, I'd love to write a screenplay with Joe Soares (the outspoken, un-PC Barry Bonds of Murderball) as the protagonist.
I'm so used to the sanitized world of professional sports. The NBA and its dress code. The NFL and its no-celebrating of touchdowns. MLB being scandalized because Venezuelan native Ozzie Guillen supports Hugo Chavez and refused to visit Bush at the White House with the World Series champ White Sox.
Sports don't really matter, not in the way eating, breathing, sleeping and shitting matter... to say nothing of fucking. (We learn in the film that most of the quads are sexually functional, and, as one of the guys says, "I'd rather be able to grab my meat than my toothbrush.") But our primal spirit -- the one that we clever homo sapiens try so hard to pretend isn't there beneath our layers of clothing, and underneath our concept of the immortal soul -- lusts for battle and war.
Sportsmanship be damned, these guys cuss and sweat and fight.
As one of the protagonists, when delineating the difference between the '04 Paralympics in Athens and the Special Olympics, says:
"This isn't about a hug. This is about winning a fucking medal."
The irony was that when they did show the hugs, it was more moving and more real than any fucking medal.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home