Rez Ball Parent Guide

The Navajo reservation town of Chuska, New Mexico doesn’t have a lot going for it. Plagued by issues facing many Indigenous communities, the community looks to the high school basketball team for entertainment and a source of pride. But when the team’s star player, Nataanii (Kusem Goodwind), commits suicide one game into the season, the team is left devastated.

With a championship increasingly unlikely as the boys struggle with grief, Coach Hobbs (Jessica Matten) and team captain Jimmy (Kauchani Bratt), decide to rally the team by embracing their Navajo culture and the unique game of rez ball.

Feel-good sports flicks always follow the same basic story beats and cliches. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t leave a lot of room for new stories. What makes Rez Ball work is its proud and unapologetic commitment to telling a Navajo story. Poverty, suicide, and alcoholism are part of rez life, but so is tradition, community, and family. The characters find healing and unity in their ceremonies, language, and culture. Although some of the plot is formulaic, the cultural focus breathes new life into the genre.

Although mostly unknown and new to the industry, the actors are the heart of this film. The grief and hardship are given as much focus as the joy, and each performer nails that balance. The New Mexican landscape serves as a perfect backdrop and combines with stellar cinematography to create a beautiful looking production.

Obviously, this story deals with some heavy themes, directly tackling suicide, alcoholism, and family trauma. These issues are handled in compassionate, realistic ways, never glorifying those behaviors, but also taking care to explore the humanity behind the people dealing with those problems. The powerful messages around teamwork, identity, and community are undergirded by the same weighty topics, making this film appropriate for teenagers, and a great jumping off point for discussion. Rez Ball manages to balance real emotions and issues with an uplifting tone, preventing it from becoming too heavy or depressing.

Rez Ball is a fantastic film for both sports fans and people like me who can barely tell the difference between a free throw and a touchdown. At its core it’s a story about a group of young men who learn that their culture and their friendships have the power to help them to overcome grief and become better people. The basketball is just a bonus.