Warning. This article contains references to suicide and alcoholism.
Netflix’s hit sports movie Rez Ball deals with some intense and complex issues, and the end of the film is just as complex. Rez Ball is inspired by a true story, although it follows the fictional Jimmy Holiday (Kauchani Bratt) as he learns to lead his team after his best friend and captain Nataanii Jackson (Kusem Godwind) commits suicide. With the help of head coach Heather Hobbs (Jessica Matten), Jimmy and the Chuska Warriors became a team, won the state championship and honored Nataanii’s legacy. It’s a relatively straightforward sports movie plot, however Rez BallThe themes and messages make it one of the best movies on Netflix.
Most of the issues that Rez Ball Touches are extremely sensitive and realistic parts of life for many Native American people. Although the themes are often dark and depressing, Rez Ball is also a message of hope. The entire film is about the Navajo community coming together to support the Chuska Warriors, and the basketball team in turn learning to accept their community. Even though Rez Ball Examining some extremely mature themes, it still makes a case for being considered one of the most inspiring sports movies ever.
How the Chuska Warriors won without their Navajo plays explained
The Warriors didn’t have to fool the Coyotes – they lived on their heritage
One of the biggest twists in Rez Ball Came into the championship game against the Santa Fe Catholic Coyotes, Chuska’s rivals. Just before the game started, Santa Fe’s star player, Mason Troy, taunted Jimmy by saying “what’s up“In Navajo, showed that he would be able to translate their game calls. The fact that the Warriors could call their plays in Navajo was a major advantage for them in the regular season, as most of the teams they played against could not understand the language. This meant that they could coordinate with each other on the court without letting their opponents know what they were planning.
Despite losing the element of surprise in their game calling, the Warriors won the championship game. The reason the Warriors won without the advantage of calling plays in Navajo is that the strength of using the Navajo language is never the element of surprise.. Jimmy’s decision to call plays in Navajo was much more about building team unity and embracing Navajo culture than it was about tricking their opponents. The Warriors’ culture empowered them, and it made them a better team than the Coyotes ever could be by relying on Mason Troy.
Gloria’s arrest explained and why they let her listen to the radio
Gloria had several DUIs and a Navajo guard recognized what the game meant to her
Gloria Holliday (Julia Jones), Jimmy’s mother, was a complicated character in Rez BallAnd her arrest at the end of the film was similarly complicated. When Gloria got to the championship game in Albuquerque, she was pulled over and arrested, and the officer mentioned that she had a warrant for her arrest. Gloria was a recovering alcoholic, and she mentioned earlier in the film that she could only work on the reservation because she had so many DUIs.. Her car was lost and driving too slowly, she was pulled over, and the officer found her warrant and arrested her.
The circumstances of Gloria’s arrest weren’t the only confusing part of her time in prison, though. When she was first put in prison, Gloria asked the guards to turn on the radio so she could listen to Jimmy’s game, but they refused. Then later another guard came in and personally escorted Gloria to a room where she could listen in peace. The guard was Navajo, so he was basically helping Gloria out of a sense of kinship. He knew how important basketball was to the Navajo people, and he also understood the walks – the other guards hadn’t even heard of Chuska before.
Why Heather decided to stay for another season in Rez Ball
Heather saw the importance of the reservation and her work
After the Warriors won the championship, Heather decided to stay for another season as the head coach for Chuska. The decision came as a bit of a surprise, as she finally received job offers to coach at the collegiate level, which would have been a big boost in terms of respect and pay. Heather turned down collegiate job offers because she finally realized that the reservation and the Navajo community were not something to escape from, but rather to embrace. On top of that, most of Heather’s reasons for leaving, like her girlfriend and the community’s hatred, have disappeared by the end of Rez Ball.
Why did Jimmy take Krista to Nataanii’s place?
Revising Nataanii’s location allows Jimmy to celebrate the memory of his friends
After Jimmy finally started dating his co-worker, Krista, he took her to the Cistern where he had previously hung out with Nataanii. This place was special to Jimmy and Nathaniel: it was where they would go to relax, talk and find peace away from their families and basketball. The cistern was also the last place Jimmy saw Nathaniel alive, which gave it even more sentimental value. Rez Ball showed that by bringing Christa to the cistern, Jimmy moved on from Nataanii’s suicide, but he did not leave him behind.
Rez Ball is available to stream on Netflix.
Revisiting the cistern also connected Jimmy to some of Nataanii’s last words. On their last night together, Nataanii talks about his mother and sister who died earlier, and he tells Jimmy that “All I have left of them are memories.” When Jimmy brought Krista to the cistern, it was a way to revisit his memories of Nataanii, because now he’s the only one with memories left.. Jimmy worked through the pain and anger of losing Nathan, and at the end of Rez BallHe was finally ready to celebrate his best friend’s memory.
What the end of Rez Ball really means
The end of Rez Ball tackles some very difficult and serious topics, and it handles them all with commendable grace. One of the film’s most prominent and important themes is exploring tragedy, grief, loss and healing. Nataanii’s death impacted the entire Navajo community, not just the warriors. When the Warriors won the state championship, it was a way to show that the entire community is healing from the loss they experienced with Nataanii’s death. Basketball is a unifying force for the Navajo community, and through the sport, the entire community is able to heal together.
Rez Ball also has a heavy emphasis on the importance of teamwork, but it goes a little deeper than that: it’s also about the importance of community and heritage.
Like a sports movie, Rez Ball Also has a heavy emphasis on the importance of teamwork, but it goes a little deeper than that: it’s also about the importance of community and heritage. The Warriors not only learned how to be a team, they learned how to embrace their Navajo heritage and represent the community. They all started out of their culture in some way: Jimmy desperately wanted to escape the reservation through college, and the other players made fun of him for going to sheep camp and being “All ResEven Heather was looking for a new coaching job.
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Through Heather and Coach Benny’s efforts, however, the Warriors realized that there is strength in being a Navajo, and that it is something to be celebrated, not mocked. Benny started burning sagas for the players before games, Jimmy suggested they call plays in the Navajo language, and the Warriors fully embraced the idea of ​​”giant ball,” all of which brought them closer to their roots and helped them win in Nathaniel’s absence.. It is ultimately because the Warriors embraced their culture that they got on the sports segment”One big thing“And why they were able to beat the Coyotes in the championship.
Both in and out of the game, Rez Ball strongly states that embracing his culture is a good and powerful thing.
Rez Ball Even hammer home the power of community off the site too. Gloria only repaired her relationship with Jimmy because she let go of the idea that Native Americans “Always find a way to lose“and began actively participating in the community through her work and her AA meetings. Meanwhile, Jimmy only started dating Krista because he stopped viewing his work as a pit stop on his way to college and learned to appreciate the situation at the time both in and out of the game, Rez Ball Strongly states that embracing culture is a good and powerful thing.
Source: UNESCO