REZ BALL – Review by Ann Lewinson
The familiar beats of the inspirational sports drama get a compelling spin in Rez Ball (Netflix) set on a reservation in the Navajo Nation in New Mexico.
Directed by Sydney Freeland (Drunktown’s Finest), and written by Freeland with Sterlin Harjo (creator, with Taika Waititi, of the acclaimed Hulu series Reservation Dogs), Rez Ball is based on a New York Times article by Michael Powell and his book Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation. No less than LeBron James is a producer. And rez ball? Powell describes it as “a quicksilver, sneaker-squeaking game of run, pass, pass, cut, and shoot, of spinning layups and quick shots and running, endless running.”
Much like Friday Night Lights, high school basketball is everything in sparsely populated, remote Chuska, New Mexico. But for the Chuska Warriors, expectations are lowered after the team loses its star player Nataanii Jackson (Kusem Goodwind). It falls on his best friend, Jimmy Holiday (Kauchani Bratt, a former high school basketball player making a solid acting debut) and the team’s coach, retired WNBA player Heather Hobbs (Jessica Matten) to rally the team. But the low morale Jimmy and his teammates struggle with isn’t just situational—it’s systemic.
Reservation life is plagued by alcoholism, suicide, teen pregnancy and the ills associated with eating fry bread. Nataanii’s mother and sister were killed by a drunk driver. Jimmy’s mother Gloria (a perpetually sad-eyed Julia Jones) can’t leave the reservation due to a stack of DUIs. And while a basketball scholarship can be a ticket out, Heather has returned, unable to find a college coaching position herself. “That’s the thing about Natives, ” says the fatalistic Gloria, who played basketball alongside Heather back in the day. “No matter how hard we try, we always find a way to lose. It’s in our blood.”
That’s a lot of generational trauma to overcome. To make it to the state championships in Albuquerque, the Warriors will have to beat their nemesis, Santa Fe Catholic, led by towering blond Mason Troy (Sam Griesel). After a staggering defeat against Santa Fe, Heather brings in an assistant, Benny Begay (Ernest Tsosie III), a storied coach now working a kitchen job. “Back in the day we relied on our traditions,” he tells them, burning sage to help restore what has been taken from them with the loss of their teammate. Heather pits the boys in a surprise match against the girls’ team, which promptly makes succotash of them. And she hatches a novel team-building exercise that asks the players to wrangle her grandmother’s escaped sheep, with amusing results. Yet it’s Jimmy who comes up with what will be the Warrior’s secret weapon: calling out the plays in Navajo (like that Nicolas Cage movie, one of his teammates quips). But first he has to learn Navajo.
Freeland, who herself was raised on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, has an insider’s understanding of the younger generation’s estrangement from Native traditions, along with the soul-numbing grind of dead-end fast food jobs. She is also a transgender woman, and has changed the sex of the coach in Powell’s book to female. Would a bunch of teenage boys be so unquestioningly respectful of Heather, even if she used to play pro? There may be a little bit of fantasy here, but movies like this aren’t called “inspirational” for nothing. So while Rez Ball may not be a slam dunk, it gets the job done. For the real story—and the real coach, local legend Raul Mendoza, who recently retired at 75—check out Netflix’s 2019 six-episode docuseries Basketball or Nothing.
