Even people who don’t care for sports, like myself, can find something to like in this compelling documentary about an unorthodox coach and a girl’s basketball team.
Bill Rexler is not your average girl’s basketball coach of the Roosevelt Roughriders. For one he’s a tax professor and has little experience coaching beyond being an aficionado of the game and second he has a unique way of teaching his team the heart of the game. He tells them to imagine themselves a pack of wolves and they chant about killing a moose. This is both interesting and a little off-putting to see these girls talking about killing so seemingly bloodthirstily.
The real subject of the documentary is Darnellia Russell. Darnellia is a talented basketball player who faces a tough road thanks to off court problems to become eligible to get back on the basketball court again. Rexler is there to support her all the way. Documetnarian Ward Serrill is given access to follow Rexler, Russell, and the rest of the team for six seasons of both the good and bad times. The documentary is narrated by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges.
The Heart of the Game is only about basketball tangentially. The real focus of the documentary is about the people playing on the team and the person coaching the team. Sometimes the personalities conflict, but the real drama begins when it focuses on Darnellia. She becomes pregnant and drops out of school and is ruled ineligible to play for the team. There are several off court battles to go against the rulings that make her not able to play for the team.
Though this takes up a large portion of the second half of the documentary there are other stories and other conflicts. The documentary is addicting and you want to find out if Rexler will be able to lead the team to victory, what will happen to the girls, and specifically what will happen to Darnellia. Ward Serrill has created an excellent documentary that can appeal to sports aficionados as well as those just interested in the human experience.
The Heart of the Game is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by director Ward Serrill. Next are 27 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary by Serrill. The 26 minute “The Making of the Heart of the Game” features a sit down interview with Serrill and Rexler. The Beyond the Heart of the Game section features a series of interviews about what happened after the film.
There’s a 2 minute interview with Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, a 2 minute section with Rexler and his daughters, 5 minutes with Darnellia and her family, and a 1 minute section on “What happened to…” The last item is the 14 minute “On the Road with Heart” in which Serrill, Rexler, and Darnellia make the film festival rounds and go to CNN to get interviewed and meet Ludacris.
The Heart of the Game is a documentary that has both game and heart (how could I resist that one?). Even those of us who don’t give a hang about sports will find ourselves absorbed in the travails of the team and their unorthodox coach.
The Heart of the Game is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more informaiton.
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