Susan Granger’s review of “Crooked Arrows” (Freestyle releasing/Branded Pictures)
It’s a bit misleading to say this is the best movie about lacrosse – because it may be the first mainstream movie ever made about the fastest-growing participant sport in America. Utilizing the ever-popular David-vs.-Goliath inspirational theme, it reveals the Native American legacy of lacrosse, which is said to combine the speed of soccer with the hand/eye coordination of basketball and the physicality of football.
Opening with glimpses of the Haunenosaunee (a.k.a. the six Iroquois nations) – including the Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas and Tuscaroras – in the forest playing an ancient version of lacrosse “to entertain the Creator” in A.D. 1200, the story commences on the (fictional) Sunaquot Nation reservation in upstate New York. That’s where half-Native American John Logan (Brandon Routh), driving a snazzy red sports car with the license plate WAMPUM, is promoting the expansion of Lucky Indian Casino on tribal land. His traditionalist father (Gil Birmingham), negotiates approval for the deal only if John, a former lacrosse hotshot, agrees to coach the struggling team, noting: “The game has been in our blood for 1,000 years.”
While the ill-equipped, underfunded Sunaquot team is in the New York Prep League, pitted against elitist prep schools, their most formidable rival is the Coventry Academy team, one of whose members blindsided John’s younger sister Nadie (Chelsea Ricketts), causing her to break an ankle while filling in for one of the boys. Supervised by Grandma Skye (Kakaionshta Betty Deer) John Logan’s spiritual quest to reconnect with his cultural heritage invigorates the team and reunites him with his former girlfriend, Dr. Julie Gifford (Crystal Allen), now teaching high school on the reservation.
Scripted by Todd Baird and Brad Riddell and directed by Steve Rash, it’s thoroughly engaging, like other sports underdog stories, including “The Bad-News Bears,” “The Mighty Ducks,” and “Cool Runnings.” It’s also significant is that not only Brandon Routh (“Superman Returns”) but also all the Crooked Arrow players are Native American descendants.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Crooked Arrows” is an authentic, uplifting 8, a feel-good family movie.
