“We run fast, we shoot fast and we never stop,” Heather (Jessica Matten) tells her Chuska Warriors about the style of basketball she wants to see them play in “Rez Ball.” It may take a while for her high school team to get it, but it’s director Sydney Vreeland’s style since her third feature, a fast-paced, almost funny, but genuinely moving take on the true story of underdogs.
The national anthem doesn’t stop playing during your first Warriors game until both teams have hit 40 points on the court. While that reflects the energy on the court, the sense of urgency seems to come from the opportunity to reimagine sports drama from an indigenous perspective. Details like the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Navajo elevate the genre, while streaming on Netflix could actually help it reach a wider audience than it would if it were shown in theaters.
Older audiences will recognize the playbook that Freehand and co-writer Sterlin Harjo are working on as the Chuska Huskies become bigger than their individual parts. But it’s really jarring when the obligatory early conversation about the future between star players Jimmy (Kaushani Pratt) and Natani (Kosim Goodwind) begins as they look out into the distance of their New Mexico home with the latter asking the former, “Do you ever think about moving out?” Clearly referring to life itself rather than going to college somewhere else.
Despite his height that made him one of the state’s brightest prep stars, Natani was devastated by the deaths of his mother and sister in a drunk driving accident. After taking a leave of absence his freshman year to grieve their deaths, he ended up skipping his senior year as well when he acted on his suicidal thoughts. A team that was supposed to be competing for a championship was in disarray with a coach who really wanted to be anywhere else, despite being considered a local hero after playing in the WNBA.
The pacing doesn’t necessarily serve “Rez Ball” well throughout, when it can feel a bit insensitive or insensitive that the grief for Nataanii doesn’t seem to last long and that serious issues in the Native community, such as alcoholism, are brought up without much self-reflection. Jimmy’s recovering mother Gloria (Julia Jones) won’t show up to his games, yet she seems well-spoken and reasonably well-dressed at all times, serving the plot without weighing things down. On the other hand, this could also be seen as a rejection of the trauma-filled films that generally emerge from the reservation. In a sports story where there’s a formula that the audience is already familiar with, these narrative shortcuts feel like a blessing in terms of pacing. Given that all you really need to know is that there’s an ordeal to be overcome, it’s a pleasure to watch the Huskies when those challenges are a little different.
Before the commentators can talk about players who fit together like fried bread and powdered sugar, Jimmy and Heather must become leaders despite a history that has made them feel like second-class citizens. Soon the team is practicing herding sheep on her grandmother’s land and purifying their souls with traditional ceremonies before playing basketball. As effective as the film’s narrative is at all times, Jimmy’s inspired idea to call a game in Navajo to keep the other teams from knowing what they’re up to eventually leads him to start talking to his attractive teammate (Zoe Reyes) at the burger stand, where she can help him learn the language.
While “Rez Ball” is a bit different from other basketball stories, it takes great pains to look like any contemporary studio-level movie, a somewhat over-the-top feat when life on the reservation is usually filtered through a much more rigorous lens. Cinematographer Kira Kelly works with a sleek Alexa 35 and clearly has the equipment—and the eye—to keep up with the action. Even when the film inevitably reaches the big game at the end, it never feels like it’s made an effort to get there.
Freeland and Harjo manage to inject the film with just enough humor and heart. When the final episode is set around a rematch with Santa Fe Catholic, a team that beat the Huskies earlier in the season, it’s funny to think that cultural appropriation is actually working to the benefit of the indigenous community in this case—much like the way it’s often treated in sports movies. While these movies are meant to entertain all audiences, “Rise Bowl” actually manages to make the fun more broad.
