User reviews

If there is a rulebook for sports documentaries, then Herbert throws it out the window. Instead she achieves, on behalf of the audience, a connection with these kids that is rarely if ever achieved in this genre. By the time the credits role, and the mandatory "where are they now" screens pop up, you will find yourself much more interested in what happened to these young people than in their wrestling scores. That is, in a nutshell, the brilliance of this film.

Four young men and their dedicated wrestling coach make a run at state in this masterfully shot and edited documentary film. It will earn apt comparisons to Hoop Dreams but has as much in common with television's Friday Night Lights. These boys tenaciously meet all comers, but their greatest opponents are found off the mat. This is a film of poetry, beauty, ugliness and fury. You do not have to like wrestling to love this movie, but if you love wrestling it will be your favorite movie of the year. It is mine.