“”Do You Believe in Miracles?”” Such was broadcaster Al Michael’s shout given following the U.S. Hockey Team’s defeat of the Soviets at the 1980 Winter Olympics, one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
Yet as established in the new film from Disney, “”Miracle””, the real surprise is that the team didn’t collapse from exhaustion, or mutiny against their coach, Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell)—or even that Brook’s wife Patty (Patricia Clarkson, in yet another film) didn’t leave him. In spite of all these struggles, Brooks’ near-dictatorial coaching style seemed to get the job done, for if nothing else he seemed to believe that a bunch of college-aged Americans could beat vastly superior teams, including the U.S.S.R. “”Miracle”” deals with this topic well for the most part, but still has the advantage of hindsight–the viewers know that the U.S. will succeed, so the Coach’s extreme methods are seen as a positive. The best scene is one that follows a game in Norway, between their home team and the Americans—but more on that in a moment. If the U.S. had lost to the other top teams, including the Soviets (this especially seemed a given based on the U.S.S.R. dominating the sport), then Brooks’ ideas might be viewed differently.Historical recollections aside–and there are plenty here–the movie focuses on events with Herb Brooks as the lead, from the moment the then-University of Minnesota Coach interviewed for the Olympic job at the Amateur Hockey Association (AHA) in Colorado, to the fruition of his dream several months later in Lake Placid. To be sure, the flick does devote time to the players, particularly Goalie Jim Craig (Eddie Cahill), who was getting over the recent death of his mother and whose father had just lost his job, and the rivalry between Boston U.’s Jack O’Callahan (Michael Mantento) and U. of Minnesota’s Rob McClanahan (Nathan West) over the 1976 NCAA Championship game between their two college teams–and Brooks’ home life, mainly his wife Patty(Clarkson), who does the periodic-suffering wife bit. The focus, however, is truly Brooks, the final player cut from the 1960 U.S. team (who were the last Americans to defeat the U.S.S.R. in the Olympics, and win the Gold, before the 1980 bunch) headed to Squaw Valley, who decades later wants an opportunity to live that dream himself, this time as Coach.One of the strengths of “”Miracle””, other than the exciting, fast-paced hockey scenes (there is also enough here to fill a “”Hockey’s Hardest Hits”” reel), is Rusell’s portrayal of the main character, even if he looks kinda funny in 70s-era Robert Wagner-esque hair, and suits to match, plaid pants and all…but that was the era–and he does Midwest accent to match Brook’s Minnesota roots. More significantly, Russell effectively portrays an individual whose past drives him to bypass the AHA’s protocol and also push his players to the limit, in an almost insane way. The other actors do well too, for the roles that they are given–they may not have star quality, but look like a bunch of 1979-80 era college hockey players (it helps that some of them ‘are’ in fact hockey players)–and Noah Emmerich (paying Assistant Coach Craig Patrick), Kenneth Welsh (as U.S. team physician and ex-Latvian Doc George Nagobads), and Clarkson (she’s not given the best role here as Mrs. Brooks but she has her moments) do well too.The film is entertaining, and especially for fans of the sport, exciting during the last half hour as the highlights of the game are literally re-played. The movie also views how the Brooks’ ideas for conditioning his players–making them race from goal line to goal line for instance–was a huge reason for the “”Miracle””. One of the best scenes is that aftermath of the Norway game, which reveals the American Coach’s win-at-all-cost attitude, not just to beat the Soviets but even to merely win against (what he refers to early in the film) the ‘B’ teams from other countries–the U.S. “”doesn’t have enough talent to win on talent alone”” as he puts it.[pagebreak]Judging by crowd re-action, February 2004 might as well be the same month 24 years earlier, and the theaters might as well been that Arena in Upstate New York (though the hockey scenes were filmed in Canada), people wearing hockey jerseys rooting for their favorite players…never minding that these are actors and not the team members themselves, and that the Cold War is long over.This leads to one of the drawbacks of the movie, placing this in a larger emotional/political/historical context. The opening credits of the movie cover a series of historical events in the years preceding the “”Miracle””: these range from Vietnam, Watergate, and the U.S. losing to the Soviets in men’s basketball in a controversial Gold Medal game at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munch (now there’s a very interesting story), to the energy crisis later that decade, and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan just a couple of months before the activites in Lake Placid–prompting Cold War-Olympic boycotts for the next two Summer Games. It’s true that, as broadcaster Michaels indicated, Brooks’ group against the Soviets was more than just a hockey game, coming at a lowpoint during tensions between the two countries, but the movie has this contest being tied into all kinds of world events of the last decade, including the hostage situation in Iran and the energy crisis.On this note, we certainly come to know little about the Soviet bunch, though their coach seems to give off this ‘evil’ vibe, tweaking his eyebrows (oooh, eerie) and looking very Bela Lugosi-esque, exuding a comical villain look. Then there is the matter of a sequence covering an exhibition game between the Cold War rivals at Madison Square Garden, where a sign that a fan holds up is interestingly ironic given post-2001 events.The thing that really makes this exciting, going beyond politics, is seeing underdogs taking on those who are heavily favored, almost like the local amateur baseball team taking on the New York Yankees, or a group of pick-up basketball players taking on the L.A. Lakers. This is what makes the 1980 Medal Round match-up the “”Miracle”” of the title–and the U.S. beating Finland in the Gold Medal game (covered briefly in this movie) not too shabby either.The movie is still very much entertaining, while non-hockey fans may be lost during the last half-hour of the movie–and it might have been interesting to see what Brooks said to his guys between Periods–and there is some silly foreshadowing for eventual team captain Mike Eruzione (Patrick O’Brien Dempsey). Many may also be lost at the whole rivalry between Minnesota and Boston hockey players (fiercer than that between U.S. and Soviets it seems) that exists early on in the film. Politics, both Cold War and post-9/11, aside, this is a good popcorn flick, and sports fan–hockey fans specifically–should have fun.As a final note, as the list of actors is given at the film’s end, it’s revealed where the members of that U.S. team are now. In addition, there are tributes to the late Brooks both before and after those closing credits.Final Grade: BEM Reviewby Andrew HaasPosted February 6, 2004