Murderball

While the term “documentary” frequently scares away those movie fans who like their violence served on a bed of chipped face, Murderball might be the film to show that action/adventure and educational/informative needn’t be opposing categories. It’s the story of the American quad rugby team, a group of quadriplegics who play the most brutal sport ever invented by crack-addled wolverines. The game is essentially rugby played on a basketball court by men in iron-clad wheelchairs, and it’s a paradigm of the three “F’s” of good sports: It’s fast, fun and violent (“V” being like “F” only violenter). Murderball isn’t just random shots of guys in wheelchairs banging the snot out of each other, though: It’s also a compelling human story, focusing on a retired player who quits the American team to become coach of the Canadian team. Of course, his ex-teammates in the U.S. of A. treat him like he just put on a turban and moved to the mountains of eastern Pakistan. And therein lies the tale …