Movie Review: Miracle

Miracle

Before I tell you what I thought of Miracle, it's important that you know I was born and raised in northern Minnesota. While that part of the world isn't quite Canada, it's close in more ways than mere geography. Hockey is well established and rabidly followed there at virtually every age and talent level. I'm not personally a big fan of hockey games on television, but there's nothing quite like attending a live hockey game and I've done so on many occasions. Perhaps one of the most memorable for me was when I was living in Thief River Falls, Minnesota (find Canada on the map - Thief River Falls is just south).

The year was 1980, and the Olympics was largely overshadowed by bigger - and far more unhappy - news stories such as those concerning the Americans held hostage in Iran and the widespread domestic gas shortages. But in that small town filled with winter sports fans (the Arctic Cat snowmobile factory was by far the town's biggest business), it was a real delight to be able to see an exhibition game between the Japanese Olympic hockey team and a team composed of some area all star players. The Japanese, who were fielding their first ever team in the discipline, lost badly to men from places like Baudette, Bemidji, and International Falls who had been playing hockey since they were old enough to hold a stick. But it whetted our appetites for more, and many of us were primed to watch the USA team play in Lake Placid even though we expected them to be eliminated prior to the medal rounds. Miracle tells the true story of what happened next.

Hockey coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) was well known to Minnesotans and hockey fans everywhere as the man who'd coached the University of Minnesota's Gophers to three national championships. He was never-the-less not the Olympic team's first choice to coach its 1980 team, but he was the first man crazy enough to accept the challenge. The Soviet team was a powerhouse that no one had been able to overcome in two decades (the 1960 US team - from which the young Brooks was cut only a week before the games - was the last American team to win a gold medal). The Russians were unquestionably a team of professionals, and many on the team had played together for years. The American team, meanwhile, was to be put together from a group of young college players who would have mere months of training before the Olympic Games would open.

Along with his assistant coach Craig Patrick (Noah Emmerich), himself a former player, Brooks determined to pick the boys he thought could challenge the Soviet team. Once he chose his select group, he not only had to work to improve the skills of each player, but had to gel them into a single cohesive unit despite the enmity between some former opponents who suddenly found themselves on the same team. Both facets of his job provided extreme challenges, and Brooks' home life suffered accordingly. Although frustrated at times by his single-mindedness on behalf of the team, Brooks' wife Patti (Patricia Clarkson) stood by him. Meanwhile, the boys - whom Brooks ran ragged with a combination of repeated drills and insults - were by turns frustrated, frightened, and overwhelmed that they could ever face what was acknowledged by virtually everyone as the best hockey team in the world.

Miracle very quickly establishes the backdrop against which the Olympic story takes place (don't be late - the background information is interspersed amongst the opening credits), and gets right to the heart of the plot which focusses on Brooks and how he planned and executed what Sports Illustrated called the Greatest Sports Moment of the Twentieth Century. Kurt Russell appears to nearly channel Brooks (who, unfortunately, was killed in a car accident before the movie was finished). With a subtle Minnesota accent and an outwardly stoic demeanor, Russell bears some resemblence to the late coach and offers a striking performance to boot. Patricia Clarkson is not remotely impressive, but that may be because her character is largely relegated to complaining which Clarkson imbued with a whining note I found irritating at best. The script is only okay, but how could a writer possibly embellish an incredible story like this one? And sure enough, the reality proves sufficient.

The kids on the team are amazing, due in no small part to the fact that Disney decided it would recruit hockey players who could act rather than actors who could play a little hockey. The team members' real life experiences range from kids who had played hockey since the age of three to several who played on college teams. And to add to the reality of game time, the real game was analyzed, broken into small pieces on a computer, and then painstakingly reenacted for the movie. The scoring and the awesome saves are thus on the big screen just as we watched them happen on the small screen almost twenty-five years ago. Eddie Cahill (who plays the amazing goalie Jim Craig), was one of the few in the movie who had any acting experience, and he did just fine. Michael Mantenuto (Jack O'Callahan) made his big screen debut with Miracle, and besides looking much like the real O'Callahan did in 1980, he proves his drama major in college was no less wasted than his participation on the college hockey team. And just to bring the movie and the miracle story it tells full circle, Olympic team member Buzz Schneider is played by his own son, Billy.

Obviously, I knew who won the hockey game. Don't we all? But the onscreen tension is so well built, and you care so much about the boys on the team by then, that I was on the edge of my seat during virtually the entire US/USSR match-up. As was pointed out in the film, the US later allowed professional athletes on its Olympic teams and the so-called "dream teams" were born. But Miracle, and the historic event it brings back to life, will make you wonder if the Olympics has lost something precious when it no longer offers dreams of a different - and purer - kind to amateur athletes and fans. At least we had 1980. And as Miracle will remind you, at a time when we most needed such a gift, the US team delivered all that and then some.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: Miracle is rated PG. I saw nothing objectionable in the movie for youngsters, though really little kids won't be interested because there is a long-term storyline involved. On my way out of the theatre, I spoke with a woman who had brought her two young sons to the show. She told me that she was grateful there was such a good movie that she was also able to bring her children to see, and I agree with her assessment that the movie is both really good and largely child-friendly. As for her boys, well, she leaned down to one who appeared to be about 7 or 8 and said, "Did you know that's a true story? That's what really happened in 1980." And the boy looked her right in the eye and said, "You know that because you're old and you were there, huh, Mom?" Well, for those of us who are "old," Miracle will make you feel young again. And for those of you who are young, Miracle will show you something the rest of us will never forget. And after Miracle, you may not, either.