Can a film not expressly about faith be all about faith? Apparently it can.
Currently in limited release, LD Entertainment’s fact-inspired film “The Miracle Season” (information and tickets here) stars Helen Hunt (“As Good As It Gets,” “Twister”) as Kathy Bresnahan, the coach of the volleyball team at West High School in Iowa City, Iowa.
The tragic death of team captain Caroline “Line” Found (Danika Yarosh) inspires Kathy and the rest of the team to overcome grief in 2011 and try to win a second straight state championship.
Also starring are William Hurt as Caroline’s father, Dr. Ernie Found, and Erin Moriarty as player Kelley Fliehler. “The Miracle Season” premiered on March 18 in Iowa City and hit other theaters on April 6.
Among LD Entertainment’s other films are “Risen,” the 2016 Bible-inspired tale starring Joseph Fiennes, and two more recent faith-based films: “Forever My Girl” and the unexpected hit “I Can Only Imagine.”
From Variety reviewer Owen Glieberman:
“The Miracle Season” is a religious sports film — and by that, I don’t just mean that it’s a drama sprinkled with faith-based fairy dust (though you don’t have to look hard between the lines to see that it is). I mean that it’s a movie of fundamentalist feel-good fervor.
…
Even if you see through the benign (manipulative) strategies of “The Miracle Season,” which isn’t hard to do, resistance is futile. You will surrender. You’ll feel the tear on your cheek, the lump in your throat, the reverent huggy glory of it all. “The Miracle Season” is a movie guided by a higher power, and that power is the film’s sacramental devotion to getting a rise out of you.
In the comments, West High teacher Gary Neuzil said:
You know, it is and was Iowa…Kathy (Brez) is who she is, and the kids are who they are, and the love and emotion and the sadness were real. Hard to imagine that maybe once in a while a movie can tell a story and make good people just be good people. Nothing more and nothing less. I get to say these things proudly as being a teacher at Iowa City West High for the past 31 years and being there, and holding on just like everyone must in times of loss and celebrate in times of victory. Putting those two together and wrapped up as one can really be an amazing journey. As far as all of those Live Like Line shirts that were worn, I’ll be wearing that same one I wore then tomorrow along with many f the faculty and staff here at our school in remembering Caroline and celebrating Kathy “Brez” in what she was able to do then in how she was able to share her story for so many now.
And Kathy Breshahan herself said:
Thanks for the shout out Owen…it’s interesting to hear reactions to the movie. My book, The Miracle Season, chronicles our journey in its entirety…we didn’t need any cliches to keep us going that season. It was gut check every single day and we depended on each other to make it through. Hopefully great reviews like yours will spread the message that there’s always hope on our darkest days.
I reached out to film producer Pete Shilaimon, a Chaldean Catholic who’s currently — as he usually is — off working on a movie, to grab a few email thoughts about his latest endeavor.
What brought you to this story?
It spoke to me on such a guttural level. I was blown away at the strength of these young women and what they went through. The love I felt for the real life people who went through a horrific time and came out of it winning.
Why Helen Hunt?
It was the obvious choice. She’s extraordinary and is such a strong person.
This has been called a non-religious religious sports movie. What do you see as the spiritual dimension?
Faith– you gotta have faith when you feel like your world is crumbling. I think faith had a lot to do with how this community came together and against all odds came out of the dark and into the light.
There’s a lot of fascination about women playing men’s sports. Why don’t we see more movies about sports women excel at now, like volleyball?
Unfortunately people just don’t show up, so studios don’t make them. We made this movie, and we had so many people say to us it won’t work. We will see if that’s the case. We believed in it enough to just make it and see where we land. We are very proud of it!
Do you have any other sports movies in the hopper?
Nothing on the horizon- but you will be the first to find out!
Image: Courtesy LD Entertainment
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