Miracle

During the 2010 Winter Olympics, NBC broadcast a 30-minute documentary piece on the 1980 US Olympic ice hockey team. While I knew the story of how they beat the Soviets and won the Gold Medal (I had seen it live as a kid), I was expecting some clichéd rhetoric about the team and what they had done, akin to films like "Knute Rockne, All American" (1940) and "Rocky" (1976). I was pleasantly surprised to find that the story was anything but. The coach of that team, Herbert Brooks, was no hackneyed clone of a Knute Rockne or a Vince Limbardo. Instead he was a tight-fisted uncompromising hockey general who distanced himself from his players, more like a Bobby Knight than a Knute. This was not someone with whom teammates would feel comfortable having a beer. Instead, his inspiration to the players came from the other direction, by exposing their weaknesses and in some cases using unfairness and resentment as anchors from which to get the best out of his players. I decided that "Miracle" might be worth a look, especially as a prelude to the US vs Canada in the gold medal round of 2010 Olympic Hockey.

Kurt Russell portrays Herbert Brooks as a lean and mean hockey coach who leaves sentimentality at the front door of the ice hockey rink. From the get-go he informs his players he's not there to be their friend. His goal is to let loose their highest playing potential coupled with the best conditioning among the Olympic hockey players at all costs. At times, he seems to be driving the players too hard well-beyond their comfort zones. Much of the story is the unconventional training techniques he uses to prepare the players for the 1980 Winter Olympics. According to the film, Brooks is relatively new to these techniques which he adopted while studying USSR hockey. His plan is to use the Soviets' techniques against them in the Olympics, which is not just about strategy but also about extreme discipline and an uncompromising tough sensibility akin to the military. One character points out that everything Brooks does has a purpose behind it.

The only short-coming in the script may be the portrayal of Brooks' wife who finds her relationship with her husband compromised, at least according to the film. I wondered if it played out in real life as in the film or if it was fabricated by the screenwriters. Too many sports movies have this sort of relationship with the wife acting as the balance between the obsessive coach and the needs of his family. She's been through this before. Why did she marry him in the first place? To be a successful account?

Certainly, most Americans know the outcome of the story, although the sequence of the game between the US and the Soviets is riveting and plays out about as well as the fight between Rocky and Apollo Creed. However, the meat of the story is really about the relationship between Brooks and his players, and the coach's single-minded determination to create the best Olympic team possible. By putting a certain amount of anger and determination into their hearts and heads, Brooks brings out the best in them, much like a sergeant in boot camp. The speech before the Americans played the Soviets is one of the better scenes of its type, leaving behind the "do it for the Gipper" silliness that has become a sports cliché. The only moment which was lacking in the film was the speech before the very final game when the US played Finland after the Soviets. In that speech, apparently Brooks told his team that if they didn't win, they would go to their graves regretting the missed opportunity. I would have liked to have seen Russell give that speech as well. Apparently Herb Brooks died before the principal shooting of this film had ended, and the film is dedicated to him. Just about as fitting a tribute as a coach could ask for.

I was wary at first of Disney production of this film. I didn't want the cheesy Mighty Ducks type of sports movie, especially when dealing with the awesome task completed by these players. I thought the film makers did a nice job and the movie itself was quite entertaining. I think it exposes a whole generation to the 1980 U.S. hockey team and what they accomplished. Even though I am not a fan of Kurt Russell, I thought he was very good as Herb Brooks. He had the mannerisms and the voice down very well. Russell is a huge hockey fan himself so I know it was honor for him to play Brooks. For die hard hockey fans, this movie will entertain and it does not poison the game action or what it is really like to play hockey.

Kurt Russell does a wonderful job of portraying Herb Brooks, an innovative hockey coach, and a hard-driving motivator of the young American team that competed at, and won, the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic hockey championship. Indeed, everyone is great, including the hockey players who learned to act to portray the famous group of college amateur players that Brooks pulled together to form a tight-knit and well-conditioned squad.

Camera work and re-creation of key plays is amazing -- maybe the best hockey footage ever shot (see the DVD special features). Also touching is the collage of tragic events involving the USA in the 60's and 70's, leading up to the Olympics. By the way: I found the (voiceover) speech we hear from 1980 by Jimmy Carter ("The USA has a crisis of confidence..") as moving as MLK's famous "I have a dream" speech. It sets the stage nicely for the events that follow - we all need a dream from time to time, or maybe a Miracle.

And you don't feel sorry for the Russians, this the last vestige of an arrogant cold-war-produced hockey machine: seasoned veterans laying out college kids with nasty body-checks, or slashes (just in case you thought us Canucks had the patent rights to tough hockey). Good news, though: the USA was up to it, repaying hefty checks in spades.

Finally, there is is some insight into Brooks hockey ideas, years ahead of their time: carefully-rehearsed breakout plays, circle patterns of player movement, and short 40-50 second shifts to keep players fresh.

There is a nice up-to-dater on where the players were in 2006 when the film was made, but the NHL careers were overlooked - several of these guys went on to have stellar careers in professional hockey. The talent level was substantial.

Anyway-- good job all around.

I was too young to have known anything about this game when it was played in real life, but it was definitely more than a game. It concerned world politics and the cold war. The movie did a good job showing how seemingly impossible it seemed for the young American team to beat the best team in the world who had been playing together for 10 years. And Kurt Russell did a good job as the tough coach who was hard on the players to get the most out of them. I also liked the way the hockey games were filmed. I think hockey is the most boring sport and I don't know any of the rules, but the way it was filmed let the least knowlegdable person follow what was going on.

FINAL VERDICT: If you like sports movies, then don't miss this one.

Don't let the fact that this is a Disney movie deter you from watching a thoroughly enjoyable and adult-level sports movie for two-plus hours. Kurt Russell does an excellent job portraying coach Herb Brooks as a complex and sometimes ruthless and inscrutable leader. Very UN-Disney-like indeed.

I am not a hockey fan - in fact I dislike the game intensely - yet I enjoyed the well-crafted scenes of competitive team play. Knowing the outcome of the BIG GAME did not detract at all from the excitement and suspense surrounding it. Sort of like the suspense Ron Howard achieved in Apollo 13 (where we knew in advance the outcome, but were worried about and later relieved for our astronauts).

A must-see for sports fans and non-fans alike.