The
appearance of Miracle, a docudrama
about the remarkable victory of the United States hockey team over the USSR in
the 1980 Olympic Winter Games, provides an occasion to teach a lesson in the
history of the later 20th century.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย A long initial montage sequence
features newsreel and television footage of a great many serious moments in a
dark and complicated time, including Nixon’s resignation, the fall of Saigon,
the election of Jimmy Carter, the energy shortage, the Iranian hostage crisis,
and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The sequence also shows a number of
events in the broad popular culture, like the rise of disco, the death of
Elvis, the creation of Saturday Night
Live, and perhaps most important for the movie, the humiliation of the
American basketball team at the previous Olympic Games.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Like a chapter in a Dos Passos
novel, that opening, mingling high and low culture, important and trivial
matters, attempts to comprehend and express the spirit of the time, to provide
a context for the amazing Olympic hockey victory. Emphasizing a number of
international incidents and propaganda defeats that diminished the stature of
the United States, it reminds us of the tensions of the Cold War, which
underlie the climactic contest of the film. While the picture itself shows in
great detail the process by which a group of young amateur players beat the
best hockey team in the world, it also stresses the significance of that
victory in that time.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The movie revolves around the
personality and presence of the team’s coach, Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), who
defied the odds and the hockey establishment with his own special vision of a
team that could take on the Russians. Pointing out that the last American team
lost 15-1 to the Czech B squad, Brooks resolves to recruit, as he says, not the
best players, but the right players, and teach them to blend the Canadian and
the Russian style of play.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Instead of a rough, physical game,
Brooks emphasized conditioning, strategy, finesse, and selfless teamwork, a
radical departure for a sport that too often consists of furious skating back
and forth, long slapshots, and frequent pauses for brutal fistfights.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Most of the film shows the
difficult, often-painful process by which Brooks chose and instructed his
athletes. He instilled a sense of mission and created a bond among a group of
disparate amateurs to give them the confidence to confront a team that had defeated
the National Hockey League All Stars 10-0.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย In accomplishing his goal, Brooks
also tended to unite the young men by kindling resentment against his manner
and methods. He became in their eyes something of a tyrant, a harsh and
unrelenting taskmaster who manipulated their psyches and pushed them far beyond
their normal limits. The team’s success, after a great deal of punishing effort
and frequent failure, testified to the effectiveness of his approach, but also
resulted in a most ambiguous relationship between coach and team.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Aside from the personal stories of
Brooks and several of the identifiable players — most famously, the captain,
Mike Eruzione (Patrick O’Brien Demsey), and the goalie, Jim Craig (Eddie
Cahill) — most of the picture concentrates on the exciting business of the
team’s training and preparation. The intrinsic fascination of the drills and
practices, the frequent shots of exercises, wind sprints, workouts, and
strategy sessions suit American cinema’s enormous skill at understanding and
depicting sheer process and method. Additionally, in the apparently authentic
tradition of great coaches, Brooks not only gets inside his players’ heads, but
also preaches to them in the cryptic apothegms of a Zen master, which often
puzzles the players as much as the audience.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย In alternating its focus on and off
the ice, Miracle builds smoothly and
excitingly toward its climactic moment, the semi-final game at Lake Placid.
With its back-and-forth movement, its terrific speed, its frequent exchanges of
the puck, hockey lends itself to the movie’s quick cuts and low-level camera placements,
which capture the furious pace of the action and the constant change of
direction.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Though they might have taken more
advantage of the overhead camera to show some of the patterns of the game, the
filmmakers duplicate the intensity of play and, wonderfully, even though we all
know the outcome, somehow contrive to make the games and The Game tense and
suspenseful.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Appropriately, in the midst of the
usual sport film uplift, the movie also suggests the cruel irony and melancholy
that accompany so many athletic triumphs. The filmmakers note that after
principal photography was completed, Herb Brooks died in an automobile accident
last summer and never saw the final film.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย History records the common and
unhappy truth that most of the players on the team reached their point of what
Fitzgerald called “acute limited excellence” in the game of their lives and
never equaled it again. Miracle at
least memorializes the man, the players, and that shining moment of triumph: sic transit gloria mundi.
Miracle, starring
Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich, Sean McCann, Kenneth Welsh,
Eddie Cahill, Patrick O’Brien Demsey, Michael Mantenuto, Nathan West, Kenneth
Mitchell, Eric Peter-Kaiser, Bobby Hanson, Joseph Cure, Billy Schneider, Nate
Miller; written by Eric Guggenheim; directed by Gavin O’Connor. Cinemark
Tinseltown; Hoyts Greece Ridge; Loews Webster; Pittsford Plaza Cinema; Regal
Culver Ridge; Regal Eastview; Regal Henrietta.
You
can hear George and his movie reviews on WXXI-FM 91.5 Fridays at 7:20 a.m.,
rerun on Saturdays at 8:50 a.m.
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2004.
