Murderball Review

Murderball works as a sports documentary, a study of how people recover psychologically from an accident that leaves them as a quadriplegic, and as an examination of how competitive, testosterone-filled guy’s guys have to learn to let down their guard in order to experience the fullness of life. Before the age of ESPN, ABC's Wide World of Sports used to show athletic competitions, like elephant polo, that the average American viewer had never seen. The beginning of Murderball garners the same kind of interest. The rules of quad rugby are very simple, allowing the viewer to quickly appreciate the skill of the people playing, and gain a rooting interest in the players who engage in this international sport. What elevates the documentary is that the filmmakers get deep into the lives of the two most interesting human subjects. Joe Soares and Mark Zupan are hard-nosed, aggressive men. The film makes no effort to make these two sympathetic just because they are quadriplegic, in large part because they themselves don’t ask for it. As the filmmakers reveal the troubled history of Zupin’s relationship with the friend who inadvertently caused the accident that led him to lose the full use of his limbs, and explore the strained yet rather typical relationship the intense Soares has with his mild-mannered young son, the audience learns to feel for these two as three-dimensional humans. These story threads are intertwined with personal stories from other players on the team, young men for whom discovering how to have a sex life after their respective accidents and illnesses was of the utmost importance. Murderball succeeds on all of these levels, making for a rich viewing experience.