Search - The Heart of the Game on DVD

GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!

steveirwin | Seattle, WA United States | 06/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I often enjoy documentaries - but I can't say i'm a huge fan of girls basketball, and moreso especially highschool girls basketball. However, this movie is awesome!! Edge of your seat excitement, real emotion, real people and the coach (Bill Resler) steals the show. You can't help but be touched by the story, and you'll also be laughing out loud too. It's not often for me that movies hit such a wide range of emotion - and I watch a lot of movies. Heart of the Game is a definite must-see if you like any of the following: comedy, action, drama, sports or uplifting stories. It's truly a film for every age and every gender. I don't often believe the movie critics out there - yet all of them seem to be raving about this film as much as me, so check it out!"

Self-Transcendence Through Sport and Teamwork....

Kevin Quinley | Fairfax, VA | 03/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This absorbing documentary is a fascinating study on the transcendence of sports and teamwork. It features a Seattle high school scrapping and clawing its way to the state basketball girls championship. Its star player, a young black single mother named Darnelia Russell becomes the focal point of the narrative as she must go to court against the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association to retain her eligibility for high school competition.



Coach Bill Ressler is an unorthodox tax professor turned basketball guru. He harbors and implements a number of quirky ideas which seem to work:



* drills were the girls lean on each other in order to overcome their phobia about physical contact

* players only meetings where the girls or sequestered for hours without coaches in order to resolve interpersonal rivalries and conflicts

* giving each team and animal theme for this season such as pack of wolves, school of Peron is, etc. for a motivational purposes



It becomes clear that Coach Ressler is not just coaching basketball but teaching life lessons. Whether you are a sports fan or not, you will be engrossed by this absorbing documentary of self-transcendence through the discipline of teamwork and athletics"

The Story, The Team, The Coach AND the Director all have "He

Steven I. Ramm | Phila, PA USA | 02/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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!



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.



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.



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".



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!).





Steve Ramm "Anything Phonographic"

"

WOW!

SFJ | colorado | 08/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As the wife of a high school girls coach, I found this movie to be a nice change from the usual sports movies. One, it is a documentary not a bunch of made up basketball moves and scenes that the writer/director came up with. Two, it is actually a movie that shows females in the starring role instead of the supportive girlfriend, mother, wife etc.

If you are a parent of a player of any sport or the coach of any sport there will be times you will laugh out loud at the wisdom of coach Resler. "You tell them to do X, they say they will do X and they go out and do Y".

Great movie can't wait to buy the DVD"