By Contributing Blogger Julie Terrone
You’ve got to check out Crooked Arrows! This touching PG-13 drama about the oldest sport around is a great “feel-good” movie. The story is centered on a Native American lacrosse team making its way through a prep school league season and trying to get to the state tournament. The movie has humor, sad moments, and serious moments. This is a touching story about the history of the sport of lacrosse and playing for pride instead of just winning. It is for families, people who love sports, American culture and history. (Read more after the jump).
There is a metaphor with this movie: Take care of the ball when you play – you don’t want to drop it – it’s like taking care of your family or taking care of whatever you hold close to you; you want to protect it, keep it close and cradle it.
Joe “the Legend” Logan (played by Brandon Routh) was a mixed-blood Native American poor boy who was a great lacrosse player in high school. BUT he played for the “white” man team, he lost touched with his spirit, his people’s game. Years later, Logan was eager to modernize his reservation and expand the casino on the reservation land. To get his people to agree to this, Joe must first prove himself to his father, the traditionalist Tribal Chairman named Ben, by rediscovering his spirit. Ben agrees to the turn the land over only if Joe satisfies his end of the deal. To do this, his father insists that Joe coach the reservation’s high school lacrosse team which competes against the better equipped and better trained players of the elite Prep School League. The Native American boys’ lacrosse team was pathetic, ill-equipped and had just enough players to field a team. Joe first takes this task lightly, but the boys expect more from this rich, suit-wearing man and Joe has no choice but to revisit his past.
Joe through the guidance of an elder spiritual member of the tribe, his grandmother, inspires the Native American boys and teaches them the true meaning of tribal pride. Inspired by their heritage and believing in their new-found potential, coach and team climb an uphill battle to the state championship finals against their privileged prep school rivals, the ‘white man” school that Joe played for in high school. Not only does the team grow, but Joe grows as well, and just as things are going well, Joe lets his people down when the building plans change and destroy a long standing part of the reservation. In order to right this last wrong, Joe digs deep and really pulls through for the team, his family and his tribal nation.
The best part of this movie is that players from the tri-state area among other areas were chosen to try-out for this movie based in NY State. Bravo to those who had a passion about a great sport and followed through to make this movie happen!
I received an exclusive invitation with 4 passes to attend this advance screening 3 days before the movie’s opening date. No other compensation was received.
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