Murderball was originally invented in the 1970’s by four handicapped friends who were messing around with a ball in a gym in Winnipeg. In its current state (now known as Quadriplegic Rugby), the game has morphed into a semi regulated international sport whose pinnacle is the Paralympics played every four years. The movie is a documentary that follows the path of a few of the top US athletes leading up to a dramatic showdown with archrival Canada at the 2004 Paralympics games in Greece. As the US has dominated the sport since its inception on the international scene in the 80’s, their dominance is challenged by a Canadian squad who is ironically coached by the perhaps the greatest US player of all time, Joe Soares (who incidentally bares a striking resemblance to coach Ken Reeves of The White Shadow). After Joe felt he was snubbed by being cut from the US team, he defected north to coach Canada and now faces his own nation and former team in a dramatic showdown.
The film goes far to dissolve many of the illusions around quadriplegics, tastefully hitting all the pertinent subjects surrounding life in a wheelchair including sexual activity. At the risk of sounding cheesy, Murderball is an uplifting film that leaves you with a new found respect for handicap people and a realization that we’ll never take our physical abilities for granted again…or at least a few months.

…now that’s the vazDeferenz difference.â„¢