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For the Love of the Game
Quad rugby players give it their all in fast paced documentary
By April Jones
Murderball
Directors: Henry Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro
Documentary (DVD)
Running time 86 min
2005
ThinkFilms Rated R for language and sexual content
The opening scene of "Murderball" shows rugby player Mark Zupan, a tattooed, shaved headed-goateed bad-ass, as he outfits his 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'-looking chair with a set of metal wheels and prepares for another chair bashing, ball-tossing, goal scoring game of Quadriplegic, or Quad rugby.
Zapan is one of five teammates profiled in "Murderball," a fascinating, action packed documentary about the competitive sport of quad rugby and the dedicated players -- a group of guys who all came to rugby for different reasons and have different levels of disabilities but they share a love of the game and of life.
Filmmakers Dana Adam Shapiro and Henry Alex Rubin ("Freestyle") follow members of a Quad Rugby team as they compete in the 2002 World Rugby championships and try to bring home the gold in the 2004 Paraolympic games in Athens, Greece. All the players with a spine injury are quadriplegic, with the exception of Bob Lujano, who contracted a rare form of meningitis as a child, which led to the amputation of his lower legs and most of his arms.
The players range from the bad boy (Zapan) to the sweetheart (Lujano) to a hotheaded coach of an opposing team (Joe Sores, Canada coach and former U.S. world champion player).
On the court these players are all about the game, evident during the games sequences. A mixture of fast cuts, slow motion and the guitar driving music adds to the intensity and the desire for each team to win. The wide shots of the game makes the viewer feels like a spectator, cheering when the U.S. team makes a point and sadness when they lose a game. The director uses a clever mix of action and animation to explain the rules of the game. Only four players on each team can play at a time, each player is given a point system based on their level of disability, with the total equaling eight.
Don't get it twisted -- these aren't the stereotypical portrayal of quadriplegics individuals.
Zupan is not one to mess with, on or off the gym, where games are usually held. He's so tough his dad says he knew "very few people that would fuck with Mark." These guys work hard and play harder. And yes they have sex. In one scene Andy Cohn tells a woman about getting an erection in rehab during a sponge bath. The nurse was so excited she showed his mom.
Interspersed with the action shots are private moments in the players' lives off the court. Some of the most touching stories are Sore's relationship with his younger son Robert, who want to win as many awards as his uber-athletic and rugby obsessed dad. Equally wrenching is the strained friendship between Zapan and his best friend Christopher Igoe who struggles to come to terms with being responsible for the accident.
"Murderball" is an eye-opening inspiring look into a little known sport. It's easy to see why it won the audience award at the 2005 Sundance Film festival. Watching this film makes you feel like there's nothing that anyone can't do, if they have courage and passion for life.