For the passionate athlete there is nothing but the Game. There is no end to the challenges and the possibilities within this contest. It is a catalyst to growth, learning, and self-discovery. Once the Game begins, there is only the present moment when each player can make the best use of his or her talent. The Game is filled with unexpected events; its energy flow cannot be controlled. In sports anything can happen; the mystery deserves our respect.
Another element enters into team sports — the magic of individual players setting aside their egos and working as one. No one wants to stand out. The important thing is to work in unison. Giving oneself up to the Game is the highest calling in sports, and the true passion that makes playing worth all the time, the energy, and the commitment that has been expended to get there.
All of these ingredients shine in Miracle, the story of the performance of the United States hockey team in the 1980 Olympics. Their underdog victory over the stronger and more seasoned Soviet team has been called by Sports Magazine the single greatest sports moment of the twentieth century. It came at a time when the nation was at a low point with the Iranian hostage crisis, gas shortages, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Although director Gavin O'Connor (Tumbleweeds) and screenplay writer Eric Guggenheim could have made this story into nothing more than a patriotic valentine to America, they have kept this theme in the background. The focus instead is on the vision and the leadership of Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), who took a group of young hockey players and forged them into a physically strong, fast, and fluid team that could meet the Soviet squad on ice with incredible power and movement.
Brooks, in an interview for the job of coaching the U.S. Olympic hockey team, states that the only way to have any chance is to put together a group of players with a new kind of game and team chemistry. This University of Minnesota coach is hired and has seven months to make this bold vision into a reality. During tryouts, he says, "I'm not looking for the best players, I'm looking for the right players." He tells the college athletes who are chosen that he will be their coach and not their friend. Craig Patrick (Noah Emmerich) and Doc Nagobads (Kenneth Welsh) are to play the latter role.
Brooks is an unflinching disciplinarian who is determined to make these unfocused young men into attentive and physically strong hockey players. At home, the coach spends every spare moment coming up with strategies that will work against the Soviet Union's team which everyone seems to view as invincible. No U.S. team has beaten them in 20 years. It doesn't help that a NHL team of All Stars are thoroughly whipped by them in a New York game. Under constant stress and isolated from others thanks to his leadership role, Brooks relies upon his wife Patty (Patricia Clarkson) for moral support.
It is interesting to watch the hotshot young men coalesce into a team. Eddie Cahill is very intense as goalie Jim Craig and Patrick O'Brien Demsey is appropriately charismatic as team captain Mike Eruzione. In a crucial scene with his wife, Brooks says that the most important thing in hockey is to play your heart out. For the true athlete, it is the defining body part. As Miracle vividly conveys, the heart is the source of passion, determination, and the heroism that allows one to excel in the moment and become all that one was meant to be in the Game.
The two-disc DVD is packed with extras that add to our appreciation of the authentic feel of the film. First is "The Making of Miracle," a behind-the-scenes featurette that includes several side-by-side comparisons of the 1980 team's play and the filmed recreation. The audio commentary by director Gavin O'Connor, editor John Gilroy, and director of photography Daniel Stoloff provides more insights into the challenges of bringing this sports story to the screen. On disc two, there is a 21-minute featurette with coach Herb Brooks, shot at a preproduction meeting. An entertaining piece follows the actors' journeys from audition to filming. For an ESPN Roundtable, real life teammates Mike Eruzione, Buzz Schneider, and Jim Craig join Kurt Russell to talk about the miracle on ice.
