Review of Murderball (2005) by Alex B — 17 Dec 2007

Review for class:

Murderball is a somewhat uncoventional documentary. It successfully tackling an uncomfortable and depressing subject in a way that is genuinely funny at some moments, bitingly sad at others, but more importantly, true to the world of those it portrays.

It's easy to forget just how difficult that task is when the viewer is preoccupied with laughing at a crude joke or distracted by the Real World-esque MTV Films editing, but the format in this case is used very effectively. Murderball draws you in and makes you feel at home with a tight-knit group of athletes who are not airbrushed or romanticized. That grit not only makes the film more entertaining, but it takes your mind off the differences between viewer and subjects for long expanses of time.

And then there are those grounding moments, like when a recently injured ex-motocross racer moves out of rehab and into a new apartment, realizing that so many of the basic amenities are useless to him. Moments when you see the humiliation and frustration that paralysis or disfigurement entails; the self-loathing and embarrassment that comes with living a life of dependence. These aren't there for a pity party; they're there for the pointed purpose of showing why these athletes are so motivated to prove themselves as capable of great things.

In the back of your mind, you have to realize that, as dramatic as these games and this story is on the screen, they aren't garnering a fraction of the attention that non-disability sports are. It does make you feel ashamed of that when you think about the film in retrospect. But by not advancing an agenda, and focusing more on interwoven story lines through the eyes of the players, Murderball is that much more immersive than I had expected it to be.