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Rez Ball is Netflix's latest sports drama, released on the streaming platform on September 27, 2024, after its September 8, 2024, premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, directed by Sydney Freeland and co-written with Sterlin Harjo, follows the Chuska Warriors, a high school basketball team navigating the challenges of fighting for the state championship.
The "partially based on true events" story, though, is more than just a cute sports film. It took great pains to provide a picture of the beauty and struggle that comes with living on a reservation and how life can get in the way of greater ambitions. Besides basketball, the film features an underdog story with themes of resilience and unity and is deeply rooted in the Native American culture and spirit.
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Check out below the top five movies to watch for those who like Rez Ball.
Disclaimer: This list is purely based on the author's opinions.
Edge of America and other movies to watch if you like Rez Ball
1) Friday Night Lights (2004)
Based on H.G. Bissinger's non-fiction, the American sports drama featured the depressed and football-obsessed town of Odessa, Texas, and the high school football team they have an unhealthy obsession with.
The town's glimmer of hope is lost when the team's star tailback gets injured during the first game of the season. However, the new coach helps improve the morale of the team and the town itself by instilling self-respect and honor in the other team members.
Friday Night Lights is similar to Rez Ball's Chuska Warriors, who, too, try to preserve their hope and dreams for the championship despite their star player missing. Rez Ball director Sydney Freeland told Collider on September 27, 2024:
"The initial concept of the film, we always talked about it as soft of Friday Night Lights with basketball and Natives. That's the brief summary of it."
2) Crooked Arrows (2012)
The Steve Rash-directed sports drama is all about a ragtag Native American lacrosse team that has to compete against better-trained and better-equipped players for an elite Prep School.
The film's story also centers on the team's reluctant mixed-blood Native American coach who wants to modernize the reservation. But first, he has to provide himself to his father, who's also the tribal chairman.
Crooked Arrows' underdog story, underscored by Native American roots and community struggle, is similar to that featured in Rez Ball. Brandon Routh and Gil Birmingham star in the film.
3) Tiger Eyes (2012)
Based on Judy Blume's 1981 young adult novel, the family mystery drama follows a 17-year-old girl, who left her home to temporarily live in Los Alamos, New Mexico, after her father was killed in a robbery. While she's dealing with the inner turmoil of the loss, she meets a Native American guy who will help her find some strength to carry on.
Tiger Eyes is similar to the sports drama in a way that it covers the aftermath of a personal loss and how connecting to one's roots can help in the process. Willa Holland plays the teenage Davey in the movie.
4) Edge of America (2004)
The Chris Eyre-directed drama is based on the true story of a Black teacher working at the Three Nations Reservation High School in Utah teaching English.
However, besides teaching high schoolers inside the classroom, he gets coaxed into coaching the school's girls' basketball team. At first, he was reluctant to take the coaching position but later accepted and faced many issues with the girls because of their different cultures.
Besides basketball, the film, like Rez Ball, explores racial conflict. While the sports drama's conflict is between two different teams of students, Edge of America centers around the teacher and his students. James McDaniel stars as coach Kenny in the film.
5) Indian Horse (2017)
Another sport drama, the movie tells the story of a Native Canadian struggling to survive in a residential school where he faces racism. However, he's a talented hockey player and has to carve his own path via the sport he loves while battling stereotypes and alcoholism.
The movie adaptation of Richard Wagamese's novel of the same name covers Rez Ball's Chuska Warriors' love for the sport and the horrors of oppression underscored by the Native American spirit. Ajuawak Kapashesit stars as the adult Saul in the movie.
Stay tuned for more updates and news on your favorite movies and TV shows as 2024 progresses.
