THE FICTIONAL STORY “REZ BALL” STILL GIVES A VIEW INTO LIFE OF NATIVE AMERICAN YOUTH

Hoosiers is usually used as the benchmark for best movies about basketball. Since its release in 1986 every movie about high school sports is compared to it in some fashion, but especially basketball and rightfully so. It is the quintessential movie about overcoming the odds while becoming a team in order to win it all, and is loosely based on a real life story. Netflix’s new movie Rez Ball is in that same vein, but looks at the game through a different lens. That lens is through the eyes of Native Americans and the struggles they deal with living and growing up on the reservation. A view not many people get to see or even consider.

Rez Ball is based on the fictional sports novel Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation written by New York Times writer Michael Powell. In the movie, we are introduced to the Chuska Warriors from New Mexico that is a high school team from the Reservation that just missed out on the State Championship a year ago. They are coached by Heather Hobbs, played by Jessica Matten who is a former WNBA player that has come back home to coach at the school. The two best players on the team are Jimmy Holiday, played by Kauchani Brat and Nahtaanii Jackson, played Kusem Goodwind that are also best friends. Nahtaanii missed the end of the previous season due to the death of his mother and sister killed by a drunk driver. With him back they are slated to be champions this year. That is until Nahtaanii doesn’t show up for a game because he has taken his own life. A very real thing that happens frequently according to those with knowledge and authoring the story in front of us on reservations. The team must rally after losing their best player and find the strength to go on and win it all.

While the basic framework of the film is similar to Hoosiers it does things differently. There is no coach coming from outside the area to be a shining knight to save everyone and the best player is gone from the team instead of bringing him back in. The criticism from parents and social media are still an issue for a now embattled coach and Jimmy has an alcoholic mother that causes stress and disappointment for him. The team must find a new way to win and that is by playing what is called “rez ball”. That style is a fast paced style with players using their athletic ability to quickly get the ball up the court and score that is usually seen on reservation teams. The team adds in calling plays in the Navajo language in order to confuse teams from knowing their plays on the floor. While we get the standard story of them fighting back regardless of their loss we also get times of failure still mixed in. People’s personal struggles are still on display and sometimes the players don’t make the best decisions. This is a good movie and worth the watch, but I will say that the acting at times isn’t great. However, that’s because they auditioned 5000 basketball players instead of actors so that the action looked as real as possible. Matten plays the tough coach well, and Bratt plays Jimmy as extremely charming and with an outward warmth. While the ending wasn’t surprising the way they get their is in that they don’t rely on a trick (think the crane kick in Karate Kid) to get to the end. It feels more real. Put it on your list and watch it with an open mind about what other cultures go through that we are not always exposed to through the TV and movies. Watch it not only for a good movie about basketball, but a great movie about heart.