The traditional sports movie narrative is the underdog prevailing, however Rez Ball focuses more on the underdog story of the Navajo nation and the struggles they have to go through. Rez Ball, released Sep. 8 2024, takes us through the journey of a small town basketball team in the Navajo nation. However, the star player of their team ends up taking his life and it hits his team hard especially his best friend: Jimmy Holiday. Jimmy and the team have to navigate their way around obstacles and drama to keep their dreams alive of a state championship.
Rez Ball teaches its audience what life on the reservation is like. The movie brings us through the ups and downs of reservation life. All of the players on the basketball team deal with some obstacle in their life whether its alcoholism, unemployment or suicide. Rez Ball educates a more general audience on the hardships of reservation life.
Naatani, the star basketball player for the Chuska warriors, suddenly takes his life. Naatani’s death due to suicide is pivotal in the story. The whole mood around the movie changes to a remorseful and depressing overtone. It represents the hardships that people living on reservation deal with and how the residents have learned to deal with it. Some deal with these hardships by persevering through it while others sit back because they are worried they will fail.
Heather Hobbs (Jessica Matten) was an example of amazing character development. Heather Hobbs is the coach of the Chuska warriors. Unlike most coaches, Hobbs has roots in the reservation. Her connection towards the reservation is special and allows the players and her to have a deeper bond than a normal coach to player bond. Hobbs actions and bonds surrounding her players show how kids, especially ones living on a reservation, are still just kids.
During the film, Hobbs’ connection to the players and the reservations ends up allowing them to call all their plays in Navajo, their native language. After, they end up going on a 15 game winning streak. This adds and expands the narrative that anything is possible and that your hardships make you even stronger.
However, the narrative that the studio had been building was ruined by one bad choice in the script writing. Mason Troy the star player from their rival school came off as a big bad from an eighties movie. The narrative that had been carefully constructed was lost in bad acting as well as overexaggerated actions of torment against the Chuska warriors.
An impactful scene that changed the whole course of the movie was when the team was herding sheep. During this scene instead of practicing, coach Hobbs brings them out to her grandma’s house and forces them to round up her grandma’s sheep which has escaped. At the start the team is unable to work together and they are unable to catch the sheep. However, only after they work as a team are they able to bond with each other and overcome the obstacle of herding the sheep. This moment was pivotal in the message that Rez Ball was trying to show.
Overall Rez ball is a good movie to watch but it is more important because of how it portrays the hardships of living on a reservation, as well as how it shows that even with all these hardships that success is possible.
