Film about wheelchair rugby draws rave reviews, few viewers

<p>The movie "Murderball" has all the makings of a big hit: Tough guys, violence, a little sex and a U.S. sports team overcoming long odds. Reviews have been fabulous.</p><p>So why aren't more people going to see it?</p><p>"Murderball" is the true story of the U.S. wheelchair rugby team, and the stars are real-life quadriplegic athletes. Their sport, also called quad rugby, is as much demolition derby as anything.</p><p>Ticket sales have been slow in comparison to the movie's buzz, and hindsight is 20/20. The distributor worries that America just isn't ready for a frank documentary _ even a really good one _ about guys in wheelchairs.</p><p>"The only explanation is that people don't want to see something about handicapped people. There is some resistance," said Mark Urman, head of the theatrical division at the New York-based THINKFilm.</p><p>Filmed primarily in Birmingham, the unofficial "Murderball Capital of America" since the U.S. Paralympic team trains here, the movie's poor draw in opening weeks has been disheartening both to the men who appear in it and disabled people who hoped the film would create new avenues of understanding and acceptance.</p><p>"Do we blame someone for this? No," said Mark Johnson, a quadriplegic like the athletes in the film. "Do we get frustrated about it? Yes."</p><p>"Murderball" opened in New York and Los Angeles on July 8, then expanded to 10 top markets without getting a hoped-for bump. The movie is now showing in between 80 and 100 theaters nationwide.</p><p>Ticket sales totaled $263,918 through last weekend, according to Paul Degarabedian of Exhibitor Relations, a box office tracking company.</p><p>"That's not bad for a documentary," he said. But the numbers are low given the "extremely high" expectations for the movie, he said.</p><p>"There's a lot of interest in the film. It's just not available in every town," he said.</p><p>Neither is wheelchair rugby, with only 450 or so players nationwide.</p><p>The game is played in a gymnasium by four-on-four teams. Players bash wheelchairs and flip each other trying to carry the ball across the goal line in their laps. Minor injuries are common.</p><p>Directed by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro, "Murderball" won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and critics have been lavish with praise. Player Mark Zupan, who is featured in the movie, has done both "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and "Live with Regis and Kelly."</p><p>"All of that said, the film should have done better," said Urman, the movie executive.</p><p>Johnson, director of advocacy at the Shepherd Center rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta, agrees that audiences may be put off by the subject of disability, but there are reasons besides wheelchairs for poor ticket sales, he said. Documentaries generally fare poorly, and the movie is rated R for profanity, brief nudity and locker room talk about how disabled men have sex.</p><p>Still, Johnson had hoped more people would go see a movie he considers groundbreaking for the honest, warts-and-all way in which it depicts disabled people. Some are heroic and some are jerks, just like everyone else.</p><p>"It is an awkward subject matter in a lot of families," Johnson said. "Even though it is in a lot of people's backyard, they haven't dealt with it on the level this film deals with it."</p><p>The movie was shot mostly at the U.S. national team's training site at the Lakeshore Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Birmingham that promotes independent living for the disabled.</p><p>"Murderball" was filmed over three years by a crew that trailed U.S. players preparing for world championships and the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. One of the stars is Bob Lujano, 36, who works at Lakeshore and plays on the U.S. team.</p><p>Lujano's legs and most of his arms were amputated when he was 9 because of a rare form of meningitis, and he gets around most days in a regular wheelchair. But for rugby games, Lujano straps himself into a custom-made, low-riding chair built for speed and stability.</p><p>Having cameras around during workouts and competition was a hassle at first, Lujano said, but he soon came to appreciate the crew's hard work. He wishes more people would see the movie, which he said depicts the life of a wheelchair athlete "in brutal honesty."</p><p>"Even though we are in a wheelchair, we have the same hopes and goals as other people (like) Carl Lewis and Michael Jordan," he said.</p><p>The U.S. team's coach, Kevin Orr, said "Murderball" works because it shows his players as they really are: Dedicated athletes going all-out to win, not someone to be pitied or praised simply because of their physical condition.</p><p>"It shows people as people," Orr said.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cd8000)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/7/141842