The Heart of the Game (2005) 
Draw Blood!
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So a guy started documenting an acquaintance as he took over the Roosevelt basketball program several years ago (seven?). In many ways, it seems as though he hit the documentary jack pot. The coach ends up doing some quirky stuff, that is effective. The team gets good. And the team has a couple of players who go through some serious drama. Then it all culminates in the state championship tournament. While some of the things that happen with the Roughriders are unusual, I think that anyone following a high school program for seven years would get some good material. I think there are several women’s teams that have had to deal with pregnancy and innappropriate coach - player contact. So I think this is a nice blow for women’s sports in general, showing some drama and benefits involved in athletics.
As a movie, it was very entertaining. Lots of drama, some humor and some good basketball footage. I don’t give it four stars because the pacing seemed a little bit off to me. Perhaps it is just because it is a documentary, but I felt like the narrative was a bit all over the place. I did leave thinking that the WIAA were jackasses, but I felt unfulfilled regarding sevearl of the other sub plots of the film. And there were parts which I didn’t really need to know about.
i’ve been reading rave reviews of this and was sure carrie would ba all up on it. looks like another 3 weeks til it makes its way to denver.
Comment by Unfrozen Cavedan — June 20, 2006 @ 7:32 pm
yeah, carrie went to the premier in seattle a few weeks ago and got several of us to go last night. it took second in the SIFF voting for best film, which you could read a couple of things into. there is lots of Garfield High School in it and its hard to not root for the Bulldogs. I also think that an equally good movie could have been made focussing on the Garfield program over those same years.
Comment by nate — June 20, 2006 @ 8:37 pm