The Grizzlies

In 2005, Russ Sheppard (Ben Schnetzer) is a recent Canadian teaching graduate who flies to a small Inuit town in Nunavut for his first job. Trying to help the teens who have a high rate of suicide and despair, he teaches the kids lacrosse and organizes a local league.

There are moments when "The Grizzlies" feels like a formulaic sports movie though it thankfully has some unpredictable moments which fall outside that usual narrative. Also, Russ starts out as a naïve do-gooder / rescuer who is initially hard to take. But the movie wins for various reasons. The main one: it is based on a true story.

The film exposes the long-term difficulties of the community including not only the suicide rates mentioned but addiction, domestic violence, school truancy, and the legacy of the egregious residential school system. These other stories make the film gripping and moving with many emotions coming to the surface. It also provides hope in a sincere way that does not gloss over the long-term history of great struggle. As "The Grizzlies"joins the list of recent stories of First Nations histories, it is certainly more than a typical sports movie. Let's hope for more of these stories to be told. - dbamateurcritic

Truly left speechless after the credits rolled on screen. Had no idea this was based on a true story. Send chills down my spine. I cried, laughed, and was shocked. Astonishing performance by the actors. This film deserves so much more exposure than it has gotten. 9/10

Definitely an important movie for Canadians to see. Really helps put the Indigenous youth crisis in perspective. I cried, but laughed even more. The young actors were absolutely authentic and did such a great job. Hats off to the makers of this film for making something so real and important.

This movie was fantastic, the story was great, well made , good acting , extremely important message and kept you into it start to finish .

The most important line of the movie is when Miranda tells Russ " it's not about you". The main complaint many will have with this film is the idea of another movie about a "white savior". At first glance it presents that way, but if you know coaching you know the truth lies in Miranda's words and the story is about the kids on the team and how they saved themselves .

I currently coach a high school program and I can assure you that as hard as I might work I do very little , in the end I am the one learning , the kids do everything . You can't force kids to work or to want it that comes from within and I thought this showed that in a brilliant way .

Thoughts provoking and inspiring .

I stumbled across this movie on Netflix under hidden gems section. Simply put, definitely a gem. Great acting, great story, and a great watch.