When I was two years old, I received a set of U.S.A. hockey replica pajamas, and I didn't take them off until I was four. That's how much beating the communists meant to me. In fact, beating the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics at their own sport on our ice meant a great deal to many Americans.
It came at a time of economic strife in our nation, when the democratic system of government was having more self-confidence problems than Phil Mickelson on Sunday at Augusta. So when a bunch of college kids took the ice at Lake Placid and beat the best team in the world (the Soviets had recently slapped around the NHL all-stars in an exhibition), the victory extended well beyond the small arena in upstate New York. It allowed a country hungry for a miracle to believe again. So, naturally, twenty-four years later Disney has made a movie about the event.
If you're planning to see "Miracle," I suggest going to the 10 p.m. showing in West Lebanon. That way, you can avoid the hordes of annoyingly awake youth hockey players that are sure to attend the earlier presentations. I went to a Sunday matinee and quickly found out that watching Miracle would be an effort of endurance in the same way that concentrating on one thing for more than thirty seconds was a near impossible act for the five pee-wee hockey players sitting in front of us. Their collective ADHD was undoubtedly amplified by copious amounts of Coca-Cola, Sour Patch Kids and the fact that we were attending the film on an "Aderol-free Sunday."
Before the previews started, I almost got in a fight with one of the kids because I correctly answered one of the on-screen trivia questions before he did, but then he tried to claim that he got it first. I was like, "Listen, you little turd, I said 'Rosie O'Donnell' way before you did so shut the hell up." Then his mother made me apologize. Things only got worse during the opening montage when one of the kids leaned over to his friends and said, "If Ben Sanders and Jennifer Smith started going out, we could call them Bennifer." As if I didn't already hate the kids enough, the fat kid in the group decided that the third period of the game against the Soviets would be a good time to whip out his hand-under-armpit impersonation of rapid-fire farting.
Now, I know that the audience is normally left out of movie reviews, but I think it's important to mention them because they were such a large part of the experience. (Could we talk about a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show without alluding to all the freaks in attendance?) Our fellow movie-goers, many of whom were clad in U.S.A. hockey hats or Boston Bruins leather jackets, regularly cheered when an American player scored a goal. It was the kind of reaction that the Mickey Mouse corporation strives to create.
In fact, there's plenty to applaud in "Miracle." For starters, Kurt Russell is excellent as the late Herb Brooks, the disciplinarian head coach that orchestrated the gold medal run. After Russell's first line, I thought to myself, "That voice sounds familiar," and then I realized that I was remembering interviews with Herb Brooks. Russell's Minnesota accent is simply that good. His relationship with his wife (Patricia Clarkson) is well developed, even if some of their interactions are fabricated to create movie magic.
As two of the only real actors in the film, Russell and Clarkson must carry the load for the twenty former hockey players that were cast as the 1980 team. Gavin O'Connor, the film's director, wisely chose to prioritize skating ability over acting skills in order to lend authenticity to the film's on ice scenes. As a result, the film produces the most true-to-life sports action that I've ever seen in a film.
The actors are all legitimate athletes--there are no Chris Kleins playing lacrosse in American Pie moments--and the scenes were tirelessly rehearsed so that the cinematic action would look the same as the footage from the actual games. Sure, some of the off-ice scenes are hampered by poor acting, but it's a small price to pay.
Most of the audience, like myself, was too young to have been alive in 1980, and perhaps for some of them, the story is a new one. But if so, they're unlikely to grasp the cultural significance of the game against Russia, and one has to wonder if for them this wasn't just Mighty Ducks IV, with Kurt Russell replacing Emilio Estevez. Despite Disney's best efforts, the movie cannot recreate the drama produced by the documentary HBO made in 2001, Do You Believe in Miracles? In the end, no cinematic touch could match the excitement of the actual footage because miracles are most impressive when they happen in real life, not in Hollywood.
