Chariots Of Ire - Murderball, Part I
The award-winning documentary that introduced the world to wheelchair rugby union.
When you think of the Paralympics, certain things come to mind - the celebration of the human spirit, triumph overcoming adversity… a wealth of patronising platitudes.
What you probably don’t associate with the sporting festival is brutal, bone-jarring scrapping. But for 10 days every four years, the closest thing the 21st century has to gladiators take to the field of combat, not to discover who can run the fastest or jump the furthest but to knock the crap out of each other. Welcome to the world of wheelchair rugby. Welcome to Murderball.
“People keep saying to me that I play the most violent sport on Earth,” sighs Joe Soares, quadriplegic rugby legend and coach. “But the game isn’t violent. It’s aggressive sure, and it’s incredible intense, but it’s wrong to suggest it’s gratuitous. Have I seen bad injuries? Of course - one time, a guy fell from his chair, split his chin wide-open on the court and had to have 18 stitches. But that sort of thing can happen in any game.”
Soares isn’t the only one keen to stress there’s more to Murderball than split skin and shattered spokes. “Much as I love the title, it’s led some people to assume this film has nothing to offer them,” explains co-director Henry Alex Rubin. “But this isn’t a straight sports movie. This is a film about real emotions. And I don’t mean the sort of sentimental crap you usually get in films about disabled people.
“If there was one thing we were at pains to avoid, it was that condescending, movie-of-the-week shit. We wanted to show the guys as they are - confident, giftd young men who know ho to live well. So you see them playing poker, getting drunk, smoking joints, getting hot chicks, getting laid. We don’t look down on these gusy. We look up to them with genuine awe.”
Rubin and fellow director Dana Adam Shapiro have particular respect for Mark Zupan, the charismatic, goatee and tattoo-sporting star of the American team. “Mark’s amazing,” notes Rubin. “He’s an incredible physical specimen. To build yourself up after a major accident and massive muscle wastage is a hell of an achievement - when these guys first get to rehab their muscles are like string beans. But Mark’s so driven, when he injured his hand, he tied weights to his fingers using tape so that he could keep on lifting. That sort of dedication’s mind-blowing.
Adds the Team American captain: “I can bench-press 235llbs pretty easily - it’s fun when people stare at me in the gym!