The general public has many misconceptions about quadriplegics, including the notion that they are not able to move any of their limbs, according to filmmakers Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Shapiro.
In Murderball, a documentary that follows the lives of highly competitive wheelchair rugby athletes, the filmmakers set the record straight.
Winner of the Documentary Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Editing at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, the film, which follows the rivalry between Team USA and Team Canada as they head into the 2004 Paralympics, has been receiving much national acclaim.
While all of the participants technically are quadriplegics — meaning they have impairment in all four limbs — some players, like Murderball star Mark Zupan, have greater mobility in their arms than others.
Covered in tattoos and sporting a buzz cut and goatee, the 2002 Quad Rugby Player of the Year seems to represent all the toughness that “murderball” is about. Also known as quad rugby, the game is as violent as its name. A cross between basketball and football, participants of the sport fight to take possession of a volleyball — including ramming, hooking and spinning opponents, who often tip over — to make it across the goal line. And all of this is done without helmets.
To level the playing field, each player is given a point number based on the degree of his disability; each team's selection of players on the court can total no more than eight points at a time.
The players' custom-built wheelchairs also are an important element of the game. According to the filmmakers, many pro players use chairs from San Diego-based Vesco Metal Craft and Snellville, Ga.-based Eagle Sportschairs. Special features on the chairs include wheel covers that protect fingers and arms from getting caught in the spokes, a front bumper and a harness that locks players in the chair — so they tumble when it does.
The chairs also have a much wider wheel base than most wheelchairs and sit low, with a maximum height of 21 inches from the ground to the seat rails.
Wheelchairs also had an important role behind the scenes, say the filmmakers, who spent more than two years documenting the players' lives.
“Whenever possible, we shot the film while sitting in a wheelchair or from wheelchair height,” Rubin explains. “We used wheelchairs the way other crews use dollies, pushing and rolling our way all over the world. While shooting from two wheels, we learned first-hand the obstacles one faces in a world of two legs — overgrown tree roots, narrow doorways, confused bus drivers, bonehead bouncers.”
For more information on the movie, visit www.murderballmovie.com. For more information on the sport, visit www.quadrugby.com.
