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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2006)
BY MOLLY TEMPLETON S HAMBHALA According to the Shambhala tradition, there is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in the world, which is the innate wakefulness of human beings. This is the basis of an enlightened society of fearlessness, dignity and compassion. SHAMBHALA MEDITATION TRAINING LEVEL 1 - THE ART OF BEING HUMAN - Discovering basic goodness in the world P UBLIC T ALK - F RIDAY , S EPTEMBER 22 ND , 7:30 PM • N O C HARGE T RAINING - S EPTEMBER 23 RD & 24 TH , 9 AM -5 PM • $85 No one turned away for lack of funds. This simple and profound technique of mindfulness and awareness is the basis of a secular path of meditation, which can benefit people of any spiritual tradition or way of life. OPEN SKY SHAMBHALA CENTER - 100 WEST Q ST. • SPRINGFIELD • 726-1988 For more information: www.shambhala.org/centers/opensky WE DO IT FAMILY STYLE! Join us on Sunday, September 24 th at 6:30pm for FAMILY STYLE DINING Bill Resler and Darnellia Russell in The Heart of the Game. Swish Check out our menu and specials at A basketball documentary with more than a narrative arc THE HEART OF THE GAME: Written, directed and filmed by Ward Serrill. Produced by Serrill and Liz Manne. Music, The Angel. Narrated by Ludacris. With Bill Resler, Darnellia Russell, Joyce Walker and the Roosevelt High School Roughriders girls’ basketball team. Miramax Films, 2006. 97 min- utes. PG-13. W ard Serrill began filming the Roosevelt Roughriders, a Seattle girls’ basketball team, seven years ago, when they’d just gotten a new coach. Sleepy-eyed and round-bellied, UW tax professor Bill Resler came to Roosevelt with a love for basketball and a different attitude. In his first season, the coach changed everything: He dismantled the offense. He opted for a full court press for the whole game. He told his players to be a pack of wolves (later, they’re a tropical storm and a pride of lions): “Look them in the eyes!” He put his girls through grueling drills and workouts, making them stronger, faster and tougher than their opponents. And he created the “inner circle,” removing parents and even himself from the scene when it came time to work out personality conflicts and solve problems. The inner circle also TPs Resler’s house late one night, but these are high schoolers, after all. The film that resulted from Serrill’s years at Roosevelt, The Heart of the Game, shows Resler with all his quirks — and his players with all their skills, passion and unselfconscious teenage humor. Serrill’s doc- umentary puts all those inspirational Hollywood sports movies, with their foregone conclusions and canned scenes, to shame. The Heart of the Game is an exhilarating, heart- breaking trip through several seasons of a bas- ketball team that is the classic underdog. The first season, as Resler gets his feet under him as a coach, and as the team comes together, is exciting enough; there’s a palpable sense of immediacy and change in Serrill’s interviews with players, fans and Resler himself. But when Darnellia Russell turns up to play for the Roughriders, the film finds its star. Make reservations before Saturday @ 10pm Darnellia, whose mother sends her to Roosevelt (rather than its rival school, Garfield, where her best friend plays ball) because the academic prospects are better, is a determined, charismatic young woman who wants to go to college and then play in the WNBA. A slight, striking freshman, she rolls her eyes at her mother’s worries, tells her old middle school coach that she’s never been around so many white people before and sits out the first few basketball games with bad grades. Later, eligibility issues threaten to keep her from playing for the rest of her high school career. But when Darnellia gets on the court, she’s unstoppable. Between her compelling offcourt story and plain talent, it’s under- standable that Serrill opts to focus on Darnellia; it’s also frustrating, at first, as the film becomes less about a team and more about a single player. But the film comes through in the second half, as The Heart of the Game shifts again to become about more than basketball, more than confi- dence, more than teamwork. Darnellia’s struggles to keep playing the game she loves reflect issues of gender, race and class, though Serrill wisely presents her story as her own, without using it to make statements or generalizations. He lets view- ers see for ourselves that within Darnellia’s tale is something bigger than one girl or one team, something about becoming more than you thought you were, in ways you may never have expected. It’s also to Serrill’s credit that his docu- mentary turns out to have all the nail-biting intensity of an actual basketball game. As the clock runs down on the final game — in which Resler plans to play every one of his amazing young women, even those with almost no experience — the outcome is never clear. And, as Ty Burr noted in The Boston Globe, it almost doesn’t matter. The win is already there, in the journey, and in The Heart of the Game’s clear-eyed, tri- umphant storytelling. ew www.iraila.com Join our mailing list, write info@iraila.com Best New Restaurant 2004 2435 Hilyard • Eugene, OR 97405 (in the Humble Bagel) www.iraila.com • Open Wed.-Sun. @ 5pm • 541-684-8400 SEPTEMBER 21, 2006 29
