Murderball - a documentary

This is an excellent film about individuals that don't want to deserve your pity, but want to earn your respect. Some things I learned from this film: Quadriplegics have impairment in the use of all four limbs. Murderball, with its armoured wheelchairs, looks post apocalyptic. And I'd be a little scared to play these guys.

I have always misunderstood the term quadriplegic and it was this recent documentary that set the record straight for me. I thought that quadriplegics were completely paralyzed from the neck down, having the use of neither their arms no their legs. That said, you can imagine my surprise to hear that there was such a thing as 'quad rugby' a.k.a. Murderball. Stephen Hawkins is the visual reference I was working with and any game of rugby that he is playing isn't going to be too interesting to watch. Not so with Murderball.

Murderball will suck you in as it lays out a collision course for the American and Canadian national teams on route to the Athens Olympics. And on this level it shows like a typical sports documentary. That familiar format helps open a door for you. It serves to underline the normality of the extraordinary lives to which we are given access. Each team member has his own amazing story. Each one has had enough reason to quit and has instead chosen to inspire.