Product Description

A film about tough highly competitive athletes: quadriplegic rugby players. Whether by car wreck fist fight or gun shot these men were forced to live life sitting down. This is a film about family honor sex & the triumph of love over loss: about standing up even after your spirit-& your spine-has been crushed Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 09/04/2007 Run time: 86 minutes Rating: R

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16841 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2005-11-29
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.com
More than merely a sports documentary or an inspirational profile of triumph over adversity, Murderball offers a refreshing and progressive attitude toward disability while telling unforgettable stories about uniquely admirable people. It's ostensibly a film about quadriplegic rugby (or "Murderball," as it was formerly known), in which players with at least some loss of physical function in all four limbs navigate modified wheelchairs in a hardcore, full-contact sport that takes them all the way to the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, in 2004. But as we get to know paralyzed or amputee players on Team USA like Andy Cohn, Scott Hogsett, Bob Lujano and charismatic team spokesman Mark Zupan, we come to understand that quad rugby is a saving grace for these determined competitors, who battle Team Canada coach (and former Team USA superstar) Joe Soares en route to the climactic contest in Athens. Simply put, Murderball is the best film to date about living with a severe disability, but codirectors Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro avoid the sappy, inspirational sentiment that hampers nearly all mainstream films involving disability. By the time this blazing 85-minute film reaches its emotional conclusion, the issue of disability is almost irrelevant; these guys are as normal as anyone, and their life stories led to Murderball becoming the most critically acclaimed documentary of 2005. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
The cutthroat sport of quadriplegic rugby, or "kill the man with the ball," is the focus of this energetic and riveting documentary by Dana Adam Shapiro and Henry Alex Rubin. The directors followed the young, tattooed jock Mark Zupan, the seasoned coach Joe Soares, and several other players on the U.S. and Canadian teams as they trained for the 2004 Paralympics, in Athens. With graceful editing and a minimal score, Shapiro and Rubin interweave the players' stories-their families, sex lives, physical achievements-with well-shot scenes of the action. The athletes play with fury, transferring their anger at their disabilities into incredible agility and power. The men seem at a loss when they attempt to fathom their situations, but their pure will allows them to keep moving.-Shauna Lyon -Shauna Lyon
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"Mesmerizing. Creates a new definition of courage."

Customer Reviews

Easily the best documentary I've ever seen
I've seen my share of documentaries, and I've seen a few that have dealt with disability. "Murderball" easily eclipses them all.
Too often people with disabilites get thrust into the role of flawless inspirations, this principle has held true across both fictional and non-fictional films alike. It was because of this trend that I approached "Murderball" with cautious optimism.
It was very surprising indeed when "Murderball" was in fact a genuinely uplifting and inspiring film,a film that dared to really show its subjects complete with flaws. Two other disability-related documentaries I've seen are "Rolling" and "King Gimp" Both are probably extremely inspiring to an able-bodied audience, but speaking as someone who is in a wheelchair, some of the moments in those films were downright horrifying and depressing. For example in "Rolling", a woman falls out of bed while dressing herself and videotapes her barely censored nude rescue by an able-bodied friend and her husband. Able-bodied audences would say, "what grit and determination" I sat there and prayed that would never happen to me. "King Gimp" profiles a supremely talented artist and parts of his story are inspiring especially to someone like myself who wants to have a career in the arts. Yet, it too depressed me because much of the film concerns the subject's unrequited love for a female caregiver. He laments that he will never find anyone.

"Murderball" on the other hand avoids those pitfalls and showcases some of the nastiest, (...)ever to hit the screen and even though I most certainly do not fit into that category and wouldn't be caught dead playing the titular sport I enjoyed every minute of it. All of the people in this film have a level of independence that for the moment I can only dream of, and they are much more impaired than I am in certain respects. So seeing them doing something they love, and quite a few of them FINDING love is absolutely, unadulteratedly inspiring. It is the first documentary I've seen that left me happy through the end credits.

The Unstoppables
"Murderball" is ostensibly about quadriplegic wheelchair rugby and there are some truly thrilling scenes of play between archrivals the USA and Canada...to be sure.
But what "Murderball" is really about is the undeniable, unstoppable, fire-in-the-belly will to live and more specifically the drive to overcome adversity: both of spirit and of body.
Athletes Mark Zupan, Joe Soares, etc. all exhibit, really inhabit such a positive, go-for-broke take on life and living that you cannot help but be embarrassed when you start to think of your piddly problems.
One of the things a Documentary should do is enlighten and inform and "Murderball" has those two topics covered---no problem. But "Murderball" also gives you Hope and that is a quality to which most other films can only aspire.

An incredible sports documentary
This powerful documentary should serve as an antidote to anyone who ever felt uncomfortable around a person in a wheelchair. The individuals profiled, all participants in the full-contact sport of wheelchair rugby, are independent and demand to be regarded without pity. They are fierce competitors in a grueling sport, going for the gold in the Paralympics in a 12-country competition.

Although several people are featured, the central figures are Marc Zupan and Joe Soares. Marc is currently among the top players in the sport, a charismatic man whose zest for life will not be diminished. Joe, a former superstar, is at first bitter about the way age has robbed him of his skills; a dramatic and unexpected development midway through the film seems to transform the way he looks at life and his relationship with his son.

Like the best documentaries, "Murderball" offers a glimpse into the lives of people that have much to teach us. Recommended.