Wheels On Fire
Quads got game in myth-busting 'Murderball'

There are extreme sports, and then there's quad rugby, affectionately referred to by its own practitioners as "murderball." Players have to be fierce, fast, and crafty warriors, resilient, and utterly without mercy. They also have to be in wheelchairs. The competition is brutal; the tender-hearted need not apply.

The world of quad rugby and its most formidable players is the subject of the absorbing and exhilarating documentary Murderball. Inspired by a Maxim magazine article by Dana Adam Shapiro, the film is co-directed by Shapiro and filmmaker Henry-Alex Rubin, and produced by Shapiro and Jeffrey Mandel. Often shot from a wheelchair-level perspective, the film follows a handful of pro athletes in training for the international Paralympics in Athens, Greece, in 2004, as they speak with refreshing candor about their lives, their physical disabilities, and the game they love.

With pro teams scattered throughout the U. S., as well international competitions all over the world, quad rugby has its own thriving circuit. Players use wheelchairs customized into "Mad Max gladiator machines" in which they race across a basketball court, blocking, passing the ball, and often slamming opposing players to the floor, chair and all. It's a good thing most of these men have already broken their necks.

All players are technically quadriplegic, but the film shows us what a broad definition this is. Most have at least partial arm and upper body movement, and players are ranked on the team according to their degree of mobility—sort of like a handicap in golf. (Although it would be unwise to use the word "handicap" around these guys.) Lip service is paid to the rules of the game, via some brief cartoon graphics onscreen. But as one player cheerfully summarizes, the object of the game is to "basically, kill the man with the ball."

While the story is non-fiction, the filmmakers shape the material for dramatic impact. At the center is Mark Zupan, iconic Team USA superstar, with his tattoos, buzz-cut and goatee. As a teenager, Zupan was injured in a drunk driving accident caused by his best friend, and one of the film's subplots is whether the two men can ever find a way to reconcile. But there's no reconciliation for Zupan and his nemesis, Joe Soares, the son of Portuguese immigrants who was debilitated by polio as a child. When Soares was cut from Team USA, he went to coach the rival Team Canada, earning the epithet "traitor." Addicted to rugby, and determined to crush USA at all costs, Soares also has issues with his own violin-playing son, who doesn't play sports.

Among the other featured players is Bob Lujano, who lost the lower halves of both arms and both legs to a childhood blood disease, and deftly manipulates his chair with his elbows. (Lujano deadpans how "humiliating" it was once to be pulled over for driving not without a license, but without his artificial hands.) There's blond, angelic Andy Cohn, and former party animal Scott Hogsett, who jokes he's not above looking "pitiful" to pick up girls.

That these guys have functioning sex lives is one of many tidbits casually tossed into the mix in Murderball, as it explodes the myths that quadriplegics are immobile and/or helpless. All the quads confess to a dark period of denial and depression in the early stages of their disabilities, but like anyone facing any obstacle, they've adapted to the unexpected zig-zag in their lives and moved on. And while he film erases the idea that these men are "cripples," neither does it take the faux-uplifting Hollywood approach that they're somehow ennobled by their adversity. As a couple of Zupan's former classmates note at a high school reunion, Zupan "was an asshole before the accident," so you can't blame his "grumpiness" on the chair.

The celebration of macho belligerence can be as tedious here as in any other sports film (or event). But away from the pack, the individual players speak with enough honesty, insight, and humor to offset the bravado. There's a lot to digest in Murderball, yet the movie zooms along on fast action and dramatic suspense. Ditch your preconceptions and enjoy the ride.

MURDERBALL A film by Henry-Alex Rubin, Dana Adam Shapiro, and Jeffrey Mandel. A THINKFilm release. Rated R. 86 minutes. (***1/2)
Review published in Good Times, July 28, 2005