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Customer Reviews of The Heart of the Game

"Life should be fun. If you're life is not fun, you should change it."--Coach Bill Resler
The history of sports is filled with true stories that are better than fiction, but there is no way in the world that Ward Serrill knew that was what he was getting into when he decided to take a camera and go down to Roosevelt High School and film Coach Bill Resler and his girls basketball team. Serrill had met Resler at a party in Seattle and after being regaled with story after story about what was happening down at the gym, Serill decided to make his first movie. After all, here was a guy who looks like Santa Class, teaches tax law at the University of Washington, was cut from his high school basketball team, and decides after a clear blue sky to coach these girls. He begins by running them into the ground because his coaching philosophy is to do a full-court press from start to finish and wear the other team down. The Rough Riders buy into Resler's philosophy and not only start winning all of their games but do so while destroying their opponents. At this point Serrill must have been thinking that his documentary would be about Resler's first season and the story would end with the season. <
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>Only that is not what happened. <
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>Serrill showed up back at the gym the next season because he wanted to get some fill of the girls going through their strenuous conditioning routine. But it turns out that Resler had a new player on his team, Darnellia Russell. She was supposed to attend Garfield High, but her mother wants Darnellia to attend Roosevelt because the school has a better team and also because Roosevelt is a mostly white school. Darnellia, like most of the students at Garfield, is black and she is also the best basketball player that Resler is ever going to coach. At the heart of "The Heart of the Game" is the story of Darnellia Russell's high school basketball career and why this documentary ends up covering six seasons of Rough Rider basketball instead of only one. The fact that it takes five years for Darnellia to finish her high school career probably gives away what is going to happen to her along the way and you will certainly want to make up your mind about the resulting controversy, but while her story becomes the main thread of "The Heart of the Game" it is not the only one. <
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>There is the great irony that after Darnellia goes to Roosevelt, Garfield hires basketball legend Joyce Walker, an All-American who played on the Olympic team and with the Harlem Globetrotters, to be their coach, creating a fierce rivalry between the two teams. Then there is Devon Crosby, the leader of Resler's second team, whose desire to get a college scholarship comes to a tragic end that is no less important (those who urged Serrill to edit her story out of this documentary were flat out wrong). Then there is is 96-year-old Maud Lepley, who coached girls basketball from 1926 to 1930, when the rules limited the number of dribbles to three and assigned positions to stay on certain parts of the court (to avoid "nervous exhaustion"). Consequently there is a large and interesting supporting cast fleshing out this story. <
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>If Serrill were writing fiction he probably would not have had the nerve to come up with the "big game" that ends "The Heart of the Game." Certainly there are elements of "Hoosiers" involved in the big finale (Resler's decision to let everybody play apparently touches the hearts of the gods of basketball), but this really is what happened. Serrill is helped by the fact that the game was televised, so in addition to his hand held camera work he has professional footage (and commentary) to prove he is not making this up. He also succeeded in getting Ludacris to serve as the film's narrator to provide the requisite sense of gravity, and special mention should be made of Scott Brown, the director of the RHS Music Program, who wrote songs for his kids to record for the film's soundtrack when Serrill learned to his horror that all those songs bands play at basketball games are copyrighted. It is not surprising that this 2005 ended up being a team effort. Serrill might have been lucky to be there with his camera, but he also takes advantage of the opportunity the Fates dropped in his lap.

The Story, The Team, The Coach AND the Director all have "Heart"!
You'll probably come to this film expecting to see a female version of the Academy Award winning documentary Hoop Dreams. At least I did. But it's much more than that. It's the story of a team and it's players but it's also the story of their amazing coach - college tax professor Bill Resler (a REALLY funny guy who you'll not soon forget) and - behind the camera, the film's Writer/Director Ward Serrill. They, as well as one player who sets things in motion, Darnellia Russell, all have that HEART that's in the title! <
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>The best way to see this film is to know nothing going in except it's about a high school girl's basketball team, filmed in "real time". Then let yourself get immersed in it as the story plays out. The less you know, the better. You will laugh and cry and have your spirits lifted in the film's 98-minute length. <
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>But don't stop there. The DVD has HOURS of extras, and that doesn't count the full feature commetary (which I did not listen to). Many of the deleted scenes will add more background and you should watch them. Next watch the 29 minute "On the Road with Heart" short to get some real insight and hear a VERY VERY funny story as told by Coach Resler and having nothing to do with Basketball. Finally you MUST watch the 30 minute "Making off short", which tells it's own story of heart and self-esteem when you learned the story behind Write /Director Serrill's journey to make this film. <
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>This is a great sports film but also a film that every teenage girl should see. It's rated PG-13 but I don't remember even hearing what is called "Brief Strong Language". <
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>The film only played some small festivals and hopefully will reach a wider audience on DVD. Come for the feature and stay for the bonus features. You won't be sorry (or bored either!). <
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>Steve Ramm "Anything Phonographic" <
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