Murderball

Murderball is a 2005 American documentary film about athletes who are physically disabled who play wheelchair rugby. It centers on the rivalry between the Canadian and U.S. teams leading up to the 2004 Paralympic Games. It was directed by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro, and produced by Jeffrey V. Mandel and Shapiro. It was nominated for Best Documentary Feature for the 78th Academy Awards. Murderball was the first and only MTV film released through THINKFilm as well as Participant Media. Production Murderball was shot on a low budget. The main camera used was a Panasonic AG-DVX100; a Sony PD150 was used to shoot some of the early interviews. The crew rigged a Sennheiser shotgun microphone to use as a boom, and relied heavily on Lavaliere wireless microphones as well. Available lighting was used almost exclusively. Additional light was provided using an inexpensive china ball. In one example of on-the-spot lighting, a flashlight was diffused using only a napkin. Reception Murderball garnered almost universally positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 98% based on reviews from 140 critics, and an average rating of 8.37/10. This film also appears on the Rotten Tomatoes countdown of the top sports movies in 14th place as of 2023. Metacritic gives an aggregated score of 87 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Murderball also received positive reviews from Hollywood.com and Roger Ebert, who said "This is one of those rare docs, like Hoop Dreams, where life provides a better ending than the filmmakers could have hoped for." In December 2005, as part of the United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs screened the film at the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium in its New York City headquarters. The movie was particularly celebrated for examining sexuality after spinal cord injuries.