Monday, July 8, 2013

Miracle (2004)

Director: Gavin O’Connor                               Writer: Eric Guggenheim
Film Score: Mark Isham                                Cinematography: Dan Stoloff
Starring: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich and Kenneth Welsh

At the end of Miracle is a dedication to coach Herb Brooks, who died in a car crash before the film was completed. It states, in part, “He never saw it. He lived it.” For anyone who was not alive and didn’t watch the event at the time, nothing can replicate the excitement and the sheer joy that came from watching the United States hockey team beat the Soviet Union at Lake Placid in 1980. But this comes close. This was one of the great moments not only in U.S. Olympic history but in sports history. And one of the unknown parts of the story was the personality, the persistence and the drive of coach Herb Brooks and the major role he played in getting his team of amateurs to the gold medal podium.

The story begins with Brooks, played by Kurt Russell, interviewing for the position as coach of the Olympic hockey team. He is hired based on his coaching philosophy and his plan to beat the Soviets. When he gets to tryouts in Colorado Springs he angers the committee by ignoring the tryouts and preselecting a team of twenty six that he has to eventually get down to twenty. What sets him apart from previous coaches is his intensity and emphasis on conditioning. This is made clear when an exhibition game against Norway ends in a tie because the players are focusing on the women in the crowd. Russell has them doing sprints across the ice long after the match is over. Of course, their ability to skate with anyone, combined with the dedication to each other that Russell brings out in them, results in the miraculous outcome at the Lake Placid winter games.

There was a decision to be made at the beginning of production about who would be cast as the players. Wisely, they decided to hire hockey players and teach them how to act rather than try to teach actors to play hockey. The film has a lot more verisimilitude because of that decision. Russell is a brilliant choice as Herb Brooks. He has the intensity and brings the gravitas that the role needs. Patricia Clarkson is great as his wife, supportive at the beginning and then increasingly concerned about his motivation. Brooks, as it turned out, was a standout hockey player in college and made the Olympic team in 1960, but was the last man cut before the games. That team went on to win the gold medal and Brooks had to watch it on TV from his living room. With so much riding on the outcome in 1980, what a loss would have done to him was something she was almost afraid of.

The players that were selected worked out great and the producers did a nice job of getting guys who looked like the original members of the team. Eddie Cahill is spot on for Jim Craig, the goalie of the team and the player who blocked so many shots he’s probably more responsible for the gold medal than any other member. Patrick O’Brien Demsey is the emotional leader of the team, Mike Eruzione. Noah Emmerich does a nice job as Brooks’ assistant coach Craig Patrick, and two other great character actors Sean McCann and Kenneth Welsh round out the cast. Miracle is a wonderfully inspirational sports film and one of the all time great moments in Olympic history. And it’s also a great movie.

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