Lacrosse movies on netflix. The Grizzlies: A Powerful Lacrosse Drama Tackling Native Issues on Netflix

How does The Grizzlies challenge the white savior narrative. What makes this sports drama unique in its portrayal of Native communities. Why is the film’s approach to lacrosse historically significant.

Table of Contents

The True Story Behind The Grizzlies: Kugluktuk’s Unlikely Lacrosse Team

The Grizzlies, now streaming on Netflix, brings to life the remarkable true story of the Kugluktuk Grizzlies, a lacrosse team formed in the remote Canadian Arctic. Set in 2004, the film chronicles the journey of Russ Sheppard, a white teacher assigned to the small town of Kugluktuk, Nunavut, as part of a government-sponsored program. Faced with a community grappling with the highest teen suicide rate globally, Sheppard initiates an intramural lacrosse league, hoping to provide structure and purpose for the students.

The real Kugluktuk Grizzlies emerged as a response to the dire circumstances facing the youth in this isolated region. Their story gained national attention, eventually inspiring this cinematic adaptation. But how accurately does the film portray the events that transpired?

Key Facts About the Real Kugluktuk Grizzlies:

Founded in 2004 by Russ Sheppard
Located in Kugluktuk, Nunavut – a remote Arctic community
Aimed to combat alarmingly high teen suicide rates
Utilized lacrosse as a tool for youth engagement and empowerment
Eventually competed in the Canadian national under-19 tournament

Challenging the White Savior Narrative: The Grizzlies’ Nuanced Approach

One of the most compelling aspects of The Grizzlies is its conscious effort to subvert the typical “white savior” narrative often found in similar films. While Russ Sheppard remains a central figure, the movie takes deliberate steps to center Native voices, experiences, and perspectives. This approach adds depth and authenticity to the storytelling.

How does the film avoid falling into the white savior trope? The Grizzlies employs several effective strategies:

Casting primarily Native actors in key roles
Directly addressing the outsider dynamic in dialogue
Exploring the complex history of white-Native relations in Canada
Showcasing the agency and resilience of the Native characters
Highlighting the importance of cultural understanding and respect

By acknowledging the potential pitfalls of this narrative upfront, The Grizzlies creates space for a more nuanced exploration of cross-cultural interactions and the lasting impacts of colonialism.

Lacrosse: Reclaiming an Indigenous Heritage

The choice of lacrosse as the central sport in The Grizzlies carries significant historical weight. Often perceived as a sport associated with privileged white communities, lacrosse actually has deep roots in Native North American cultures. The film takes care to address this history, presenting an opportunity for cultural reclamation.

What is the indigenous history of lacrosse? The sport, known by various names in different Native languages, has been played for centuries across North America. It held spiritual and cultural significance, often used to settle disputes between tribes or as preparation for warfare. European settlers co-opted and modified the game, leading to its modern incarnation.

By reintroducing lacrosse to the Kugluktuk community, The Grizzlies subtly explores themes of cultural resilience and the reclamation of tradition. This aspect adds layers of meaning to what might otherwise be a conventional sports drama.

Stellar Performances: Showcasing Native Talent

While Ben Schnetzer delivers a strong performance as Russ Sheppard, The Grizzlies truly shines through its showcase of Native acting talent. The film’s commitment to authentic representation is evident in its casting choices, with several standout performances bringing depth and nuance to the narrative.

Notable Performances:

Emerald MacDonald as Miranda: Portraying a shy student finding her voice
Ricky Marty-Pahtaykan as Adam: Bringing stoic strength to the role of a young hunter
Booboo Stewart as Kyle: Infusing charisma into the reluctant star athlete

These performances, along with many others, help ground the film in the realities of life in Kugluktuk. They provide a counterpoint to Schnetzer’s outsider perspective, ensuring that the Native characters are fully realized individuals rather than simple plot devices.

Confronting Canada’s Dark History: The Residential School System

The Grizzlies doesn’t shy away from addressing the painful legacy of Canada’s residential school system. This government-sponsored program, which ran from the 1880s to the late 1990s, forcibly removed Native children from their families in an attempt at cultural assimilation. The film touches on this history, providing crucial context for understanding the challenges faced by the Kugluktuk community.

What impact did the residential school system have on Native communities? The program resulted in widespread abuses, cultural erasure, and intergenerational trauma. By acknowledging this history, The Grizzlies connects the personal struggles of its characters to broader systemic issues, adding depth to its narrative.

Key Points About the Residential School System:

Operated for over a century, ending in 1996
Aimed to assimilate Native children into Euro-Canadian culture
Resulted in physical, emotional, and sexual abuse
Led to loss of language, culture, and family connections
Created lasting intergenerational trauma in Native communities

By incorporating this historical context, The Grizzlies moves beyond being a simple sports drama, becoming a nuanced exploration of reconciliation and healing.

From Nunavut to Toronto: The Journey to the National Tournament

A significant portion of The Grizzlies focuses on the team’s ambitious goal of competing in the Canadian national under-19 lacrosse tournament in Toronto. This journey represents more than just a sporting achievement; it becomes a metaphor for the broader struggles and aspirations of the Kugluktuk community.

What challenges did the team face in making this journey? The film highlights several obstacles:

Financial constraints: Raising funds for travel and equipment
Geographic isolation: Many students had never left their remote community
Cultural differences: Navigating an unfamiliar urban environment
Skill disparity: Competing against more experienced teams
Community skepticism: Overcoming doubt and building support

Through the team’s perseverance in overcoming these challenges, The Grizzlies illustrates themes of resilience, community support, and the transformative power of shared goals.

Visual Storytelling: Capturing the Arctic Landscape

One of the most striking aspects of The Grizzlies is its visual portrayal of Nunavut’s stark Arctic landscape. The film’s cinematography serves not just as a backdrop but as an integral part of the storytelling, reflecting the isolation, beauty, and challenges of life in Kugluktuk.

How does the film use its setting to enhance the narrative? The vast, icy expanses of Nunavut become a character in their own right, influencing every aspect of the community’s life. From the opening shots of Russ Sheppard’s arrival to the contrast between Kugluktuk and Toronto, the film’s visual language reinforces themes of isolation, resilience, and cultural difference.

Key Visual Elements:

Wide, sweeping shots of the tundra emphasizing isolation
Intimate indoor scenes highlighting community bonds
Contrast between traditional and modern elements in the town
Use of natural light to capture the unique Arctic environment
Juxtaposition of Kugluktuk’s landscapes with urban Toronto

Through these visual choices, The Grizzlies immerses viewers in the world of Kugluktuk, creating a visceral understanding of the community’s unique challenges and strengths.

Beyond the Field: The Grizzlies’ Impact on Education and Community

While The Grizzlies centers on the formation of a lacrosse team, the film explores the broader impacts of this initiative on education and community life in Kugluktuk. The story illustrates how sports can serve as a catalyst for wider positive change, particularly in communities facing significant challenges.

What positive outcomes resulted from the lacrosse program? The film highlights several key improvements:

Increased school attendance and engagement
Reduced substance abuse among participating youth
Improved mental health and decreased suicide rates
Strengthened community bonds and pride
Enhanced cross-cultural understanding and respect

By showcasing these wider impacts, The Grizzlies underscores the potential of sports and extracurricular activities to address complex social issues. It presents a hopeful message about the power of community-driven initiatives to create lasting change.

Long-Term Effects:

Continued operation of the lacrosse program beyond the film’s timeline
Inspiration for similar initiatives in other Native communities
Increased national awareness of challenges facing Arctic communities
Ongoing improvements in educational outcomes in Kugluktuk

Through its exploration of these broader impacts, The Grizzlies transcends the typical sports drama formula, offering a nuanced look at community transformation and resilience.

Stream It or Skip It?

By Scott Hines

Twitter
@actioncookbook

Dec 15, 2020 at 4:30pm

121 Shares

Where to Stream:

The Grizzlies

The Grizzlies, which moves to Netflix this week, tells the real-life story of an unlikely lacrosse team from the icy shores of the Canadian Arctic. A classic sports drama at heart, it wrestles with a fundamental flaw in its story and mostly comes out on top by centering Native characters and their voices in its message.

The Gist: This 2018 Canadian film tells the true story of the Kugluktuk Grizzlies, an unlikely lacrosse team formed in response to a harrowing reality. In 2004, a white man, Russ Sheppard was assigned to teach in remote Kugluktuk, Nunavut. He’s been sent to this small town on Canada’s northern mainland shore as part of a government-sponsored “Work For School” tuition payback program, and hopes to quickly serve his assignment and move on to a job at a fancy prep school. Upon arriving, though, he’s taken aback when confronted with the harsh realities of life in the community, a place with the highest teen suicide rate in the world.

He struggles to connect with the students as a white outsider in a Native community, ignorant of their traditions, needs and lives, and in desperation attempts to organize an intramural lacrosse league within the school, something he hopes will give his students structure, confidence, and something to live for. The proposal faces resistance both from students and the town at large, but slowly gathers steam as Sheppard begins to understand more about the deep-rooted community he’s essentially parachuted into. Once he successfully recruits several key popular students, others join in, and his training begins to take hold. More students begin attending class, and the games become a popular activity.

Before long, Sheppard conceives of a trip to the Canadian lacrosse under-19 nationals tournament in Toronto, an unheard-of trip for the students, most of whom have never been more than a snowmobile’s ride away from their home in Kugluktuk. It’s an expensive trip, and Sheppard’s fraught fundraising process hopes to become something more than just another white man’s broken promise to a Native community.

Photo: Everett Collection

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Aims for shades of Dangerous Minds or Stand And Deliver, with an idealistic teacher trying to reach troubled students, but lands more amidst classic sports stories like Remember The Titans.

Performance Worth Watching: Ben Schnetzer disappears quite capably into his role as the outsider teacher Russ Sheppard, but the real strength of the movie lies in the primarily Native cast, highlighted by Emerald MacDonald as shy student Miranda, Ricky Marty-Pahtaykan as stoic hunter Adam, and Twilight veteran Booboo Stewart as the speedy, reluctant would-be star Kyle.

Memorable Dialogue: One of the most memorable lines in the film is delivered in the opening minutes and helps set the tone from the outset, as the naive Sheppard looks out over the frozen landscape of Nunavut from an approaching plane, and asks a fellow passenger (played by former Canadian member of Parliament Jack Anawak) how long he’s lived there. “Six thousand years,” the man dryly responds.

Sex and Skin: None to speak of.

Our Take: The Grizzlies spent nearly a decade in development, after being inspired by an ESPN profile of the real-life team that the film is based on. The slow process of making the film is evident, as there’s a great deal of care apparent in how the subject matter is handled. A film telling this story faces the very real risk of becoming yet another White Savior film, with the outsider appearing in a Native community and changing their ways. That’s not completely solved by the filmmakers, but they make a genuine and concerted effort to address the issue head-on, both by acknowledging it directly in dialogue and, more importantly, working hard to center the Native actors, culture and stories in the narrative.

Even the presence of lacrosse—often seen as a preppy white-kid sport—in the story is addressed, as it’s explained that the game was first played in indigenous communities in North America before being co-opted and modified by white settlers. It’s made clear throughout that the influence of white Canadian communities on the Native peoples of this land has been largely a negative one—one character’s abusive father is explained to have been a survivor of the Canadian government’s residential-school system, a conscious program of assimilation that worked to remove Native students from their homes and cultures and was responsible for widespread abuses and many student deaths.

In this light, the film can be seen as an attempt at reckoning with that history, with Schnetzer’s fresh-faced Sheppard as a proxy for the white people who don’t fully understand the damage that has been historically inflicted on these communities. It’s confident in that message without being overly strident: this is still a sports film at heart, and the arc of the Grizzlies coming together and eventually heading South to the national tournament plays out like a well-scripted fiction, despite being largely a true story. The actors playing the students are wholly believable in their roles, and it’s easy to get invested in their struggle to find hope in an unlikely pastime.

Our Call: STREAM IT. In the end, The Grizzlies is a gripping sports movie worthy of its place in that canon, and the filmmakers’ conscious efforts to avoid the potential pitfalls of telling this particular story pay off in hopefully educating viewers about a community they probably don’t know enough about.

Should you stream or skip the Canadian sports drama #TheGrizzlies on @netflix? #SIOSI
— Decider (@decider) December 16, 2020

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and internet user who lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, two young children, and a small, loud dog.

Watch The Grizzlies on Netflix

Our Favourite Lacrosse Films to Watch During Lockdown

Jason Naylor

17 April 2020

Jason Naylor

17 April 2020

It’s week four of isolation/lockdown/quarantine/whatever you want to call it(!) and we’re slowly making our way through every single bit of film and television Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, All 4, ITV Hub, [insert streaming platform of your choice here] has to offer.

We thought we’d put together a little guide to lacrosse films we think you should take a look at over the next few weeks and, hey, if it stops you from flicking through all the films on Netflix before deciding there’s nothing you want to watch on there anyway then we think that’s a small victory, don’t you?

So, here we go with part one…

1. CROOKED ARROWS (2012)

This 2012 film features Superman Returns star, Brandon Routh, as mixed-blood Native American, Joe Logan, who wants to expand his casino onto the land of his ancestors. But first, he must prove himself to his father, the traditionalist Tribal Chairman.

Before he will grant him his request, his father, played by Twilight’s Gil Birmingham, asks him to coach a struggling high school lacrosse team, which competes against better equipped and better trained teams in the Prep School League.

Joe reluctantly accepts and has to delve into the traditional cultural heritage of the sport to gain the respect of his players and get them winning again.

A classic underdog story with added bits of the history of lacrosse, Crooked Arrows is everything you need during a lazy afternoon on the sofa.

Crooked Arrows is currently available to watch on YouTube HERE.

2.

The Spirit Game: Pride of a Nation (2017)

This feature-length documentary also focuses on the history of lacrosse and its place in the Iroquis/Haudenosaunee culture.

It follows the Iroquois Nationals Men’s squad as it prepares to compete in the 2015 World Box Lacrosse Championships.

These championships were significant as they were the first to be played on a Native American reservation in Onondaga, New York State, the capital of the Iroquois Confederacy.

This is definitely a must-see for lacrosse lovers all around the world as it reminds us of the history of the sport as well as what it means to those who play the game in this part of the world.

The Spirit Game: Pride of a Nation is currently available to rent or buy from Amazon Video.

3.

A Warrior’s Heart (2011)

A light-hearted romantic sports drama, A Warrior’s Heart is perfect for those lazy Sunday’s in front of the telly!

The film sees star lacrosse player Conor Sullivan, played by Kellan Lutz, move to a new town where he doesn’t know anybody until he meets Brooklyn, played by Twilight’s (is there a theme with these lacrosse films?) Ashley Greene.

After Conor’s father dies during combat in Iraq, he begins to lose all sense of himself and his life looks like it’s going off track when he gets kicked off the lacrosse team after a violent on-field incident.

To regain his obvious passion for the sport, he embarks on an arduous lacrosse training camp in the wilderness led by his dead father’s old combat buddy, Sgt. Major Duke Wayne (Adam Beach), who opens Conor’s eyes to the true meaning of maturity, sportsmanship and manhood.

A Warrior’s Heart is currently available to watch on YouTube HERE.

4.

City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story (2010)

An insight into what a sport that has been historically played by those who are most affluent in society can do for those who are least affluent, City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story is a documentary that tells the story of a group of 12-year-olds from Denver’s inner city who have found a hint of salvation from their violent neighbourhood through the most unlikely of sports.

From the moment the kids discover what a lacrosse stick is, to the heart stopping finale at the State Championships, City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story takes us on an unforgettable journey.

With the wealthy, white sport of lacrosse as the backdrop, we watch as these kids confront the vicious inequalities that plague urban youth today.

Yet their undeniable spirit carries them, and their story, to places unexpected and unbelievable.

A really important film that proves that lacrosse is a global sport that can be, like football and rugby before them, played by everyone in society.

City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story isn’t currently available to watch online but it’s definitely a must see!

5.

Shaolin Girl (2008)

A Japanese sports action comedy, Shaolin Girl, focuses on young Rin Sakurazawa, who, after having trained at the Shaolin Temple for 3000 days, returns to Japan to find her former dojo abandoned, and her former Shaolin master a cook at a local restaurant.

While struggling to restore her dojo to its former glory and spread a genuine Shaolin philosophy, Rin attends university where she becomes the star member of the lacrosse team.

Rin’s exceptional physical abilities bring a string of victories to the team and her teammates, in turn, come to her aid by helping her re-establish the dojo.

Just as fortune seems to be beginning to smile upon her, however, a dark incident from a past Rin knew nothing about rears its ugly head and throws her into a showdown with tremendous evil.

This film is so dramatic that it borders on being silly but who doesn’t want to see flaming lacrosse balls flying through the air?

Shaolin Girl is currently available to watch on YouTube HERE.

Honourable Mention –

Wild Child (2008)

This the most well-known film in our list but we didn’t feel we could include it as a ‘proper’ lacrosse film as it only has a few scenes that focus on the sport. Plus, you’ve probably seen it anyway!

In Wild Child, we see rebellious Malibu princess Poppy Moore, played by Emma Roberts, shipped off to the same English boarding school her now dead mother went to.

Unwilling to accept the strict regime, she decides to misbehave and take the blame for everyone until she’s dismissed.

The school’s only appealing feature for her is the head teacher’s dashing son Freddie, played by Alex Pettyfer. When the dream prince transfers his favor from ambitious, uptight Harriet to unruly Poppy, that changes everything.

A film which saw England Lacrosse’s very own Head of Organisational Development, Paul Coups, take charge of teaching the actors to play lacrosse, Wild Child is a funny, silly, and charming film that, as an added bonus, also contains some lacrosse!

Wild Child is currently available to watch on YouTube HERE.

And there you have it: part one of our look at lacrosse films you should watch to stop you from getting bored during this isolation period.

But don’t forget that watching films about lacrosse is still no replacement for doing some real-life lacrosse practice in you garden!

Happy laxxing!

Tagged: lacrosse, coronavirus

I Still Love You

Reviews

A surprisingly empty and soulless ending to Netflix’s most hit romance trilogy.

02/16/2021
Text:
Olya Smolina

Trailer

Creators and actorsAbout the filmReviewFilm in collectionsSimilarStillsTrailersPosters

Film.ru author since 2018
533 materials

To All the Boys 3: I Still Love You

To All the Boys: Always and Forever

, 2021

drama comedy melodrama
/ USA

Director:
Michael Fimonjari

Cast:
Lana Condor Noah Centineo Janel Parrish Anna Cathcart

The popular streaming platform Netflix has significantly contributed to the revival of the romantic comedy genre, which seemed to have died back in the mid-nineties. In the era of digitalization, we all especially need films that celebrate analog romance, where the characters continue to write touching letters to each other, walk down the street by the hand and choose “their” song for the school ball. Released in 2018, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, based on the novel of the same name by American writer Jenny Hahn, was charming in its sincerity and simplicity, and its unpretentious plot rested on the chemistry and charm of the lead actors Lana Condor and Noah Centineo. The latter literally in one summer turned into the main boyfriend of the entire Internet. The continuation, as usual, was not long in coming: in 2020, just in time for Valentine’s Day, Netflix released the second part of the trilogy, titled “To All the Guys: P.S. I love you”, and most recently, the third and final film “To All the Guys 3: I Still Love You” was released on the platform.

Noah Centineo as Peter in To All the Boys: With Love

High school student Lara Jean (Lana Condor) is spending her last days at school and is actively preparing for university. Her boyfriend Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) has already won a scholarship to Stanford thanks to his involvement with the lacrosse team. Naturally, the couple agreed in advance that they would enter the same educational institution, because long-distance relationships are terribly inconvenient, difficult and generally unlikely. Alas, the unexpected happens: Lara does not get into Stanford, but she is taken to Berkeley, which is just an hour from Peter’s University. However, the heroes do not lose heart and decide that they will see each other every weekend, and the rest of the time they will gently correspond on social networks. Unfortunately, these plans were not destined to come true. When the couple goes to New York on an excursion, Lara unexpectedly falls in love with this city without limit and begins to rethink her future, and NYU University enrolls the girl in its literary program. As a result, the heroine faces a difficult choice between relationships and her own ambitions.

Lana Condor as Lara Jean in a still from To All The Guys: With Love

The triquel, like the sequel to To All The Guys, was directed by the first film’s cinematographer Michael Fimonjari, a man who generally has no directing experience. One can only guess why Netflix entrusted him with one of their flagship franchises. Susan Johnson’s original film had a nice montage and nice homage to John Hughes’ school comedies, which fit perfectly into the general wave of popularity of the eighties. Fimonari refused to continue this line in the third film (as in the second), but he also did not come up with anything new.

A still from the film “To All the Boys: With Love…”

Inspired by numerous articles from Buzzfeed, the director decided to focus on the beloved couple of main characters, creating the safest world for them, full of fluff and endless faceless dates. Such a desperate attempt to please the audience of the film played a cruel joke on him – “To All the Guys 3” is so afraid of not being liked by the viewer at least in some way that it completely loses touch with reality. The lack of original ideas and any seedy conflict turns one hundred and ten minutes of running time into a frankly boring and vulgarly banal spectacle. The moral dilemma that confronts Lara Jean at the stage of admission is solved somewhere behind the scenes, but not on the screen. Peter Kavinsky in the role of the best guy in the world is always ready to forgive everything and accept any decision of his girlfriend, the viewer does not even have the thought that his favorite characters can really part (it is worth paying tribute to Fimonari – in the end he still tries to create a strained intrigue, which rather quickly dispels any doubts).

Against the backdrop of recent world events, To All the Guys 3 looks especially fake. In a different scenario, this film could become a cozy nest for escapism, a great opportunity to forget about what is happening outside the window for at least a couple of hours. But, alas, for this, the netflix triquel simply lacks depth and at least some originality. In the dreamy world of rom-coms, he looks like a simulation of reality, and not its direct embodiment.

Text: Olya Smolina

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018, Movie) – “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” Movie 2018 -> romantic comedy with an interesting plot”

Hello everyone!

The film “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” 2018 was recommended to me by a friend, I was very interested in the plot, I just love light films where you can laugh, sometimes cry and be happy for the heroes of the film. In general, it’s my topic.

GENERAL:

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 2018 is based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Jenny Khan, I haven’t read the book, but since I love all kinds of teen romances, I would love to read it.
The film was released August 17, 2018, premiered on Netflix
Duration : 1 hour 39 minutes I love.

Plot/Characters:

Annotation for the film:

Lara Jean’s habitual life is turned upside down when all the letters she wrote to her lovers suddenly fall into the hands of the addressee m.

The plot is very interesting, not loading the brain, the most for evening viewing with the family. There are several key characters in the film, whose fates echo each other.

The film “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” 2018

Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) is the main character of the film, a high school graduate who is invisible, loves to read novels and hangs out with her younger sister all weekend. Every time she falls in love with someone, she writes love letters, but does not send them and keeps them.