The movie ‘Miracle,’ about the US hockey team
that beat the Soviets in the 1980 Olympics,
is well worth seeing, even if you
know nothing about hockey. Best
I know nothing about hockey, but i already know too much about USian superiority complex. 
Haven’t yet seen the movie, but remember well the actual event.
To me it’s a story about spirit, teamwork and overcoming the odds, not about "USian superiorty complex. :roll:
All the Best, Tom
Same here. I remember all of us huddling around my tiny black and white TV in my college dorm holding our breath…and the cheers you could hear all over campus when our guys won!
Pride in your country and in your countrymen has nothing to do with “superiority complexes,” glauber.
Redwolf
As they say, the fish don’t know anything about water.
But to be honest, i didn’t see the movie, maybe it is really about teamwork and overcoming the odds, not about the reasons why the US is better than Russia.
To quote Chris Laughlin from a recent thread-
Whatever dude…
You have to look at the whole thing within its historical context. These were the days before professional teams were officially allowed to compete in the Olympics. The USSR (it wasn’t “Russia” then), which literally raised, trained and housed its athletes from young childhood, was considered virtually unstoppable. The American team, and most of the other teams out there that weren’t part of the Soviet athletic machine, consisted of legitimate amateurs, in the spirit of the Olympic games. Not only that, but hockey is not the huge sport in the U.S. that it is in some countries…if any country was going to beat the Soviets, it was much more likely to be Canada or one of the Scandinavian countries. It was, indeed, a Cindarella story, and we were and still are justly proud of the guys who accomplished it.
As far as the fish not knowing of water, I would submit that a fish knows water much more intimately than does the diver, and the diver more intimately than the person who merely sits on the shore.
Redwolf
Actually, the water is transparent, and the fishes see right through it. But they do congratulate themselves for being much wetter than the creatures outside the fishtank.
Gosh, this is funny, but i’m taking a break before people get seriously offended, thanks!
g
This water’s a bit to deep for me, but I seriously doubt if anyone is going to get seriously offended over your view on the U.S. Olympic hockey team.
Tom
This is an area where US American perception and just about everybody else’s perception differ, which has not always helped to promote understanding and mutual respect between the US and other countries.
The movie succeeds in avoiding most
cliches in sports movies. The Soviet
team is depicted as another hockey team–
although a formidably good and experienced
one that had won the Olympic
gold medal every time since 1960, I believe.
The event is placed in terms of its time,
America suffering a crisis in confidence,
as the president put it, still in the shadow
of Watergate and Vietnam, the Iranian hostage
crisis in progress. The miraculous
victory–20 college kids with six
months of training together beating the best team
on earth,one that clobbered our professional
hockey
all-star team–gave us a shot in the arm,
but the movie isn’t about why the
USA was better than the USSR.
There’s an extraordinary performance by
Kurt Russell; the movie is character
driven. Best
That is the really interesting aspect of the game. Now, it makes me think: Why is a movie about that particular time and that particular game coming out in the USA now?
The fish in the pond and the rest of the animals don’t seem to be communicating clearly. As sound does not easily pass from air to water (or the other way around, mind you), the fish are often hearing something that sounds a lot like “Hey, we’re cool cause we’re not in the pond.” This isn’t largely conducive toward bringing out the best attitudes in the fish. If that’s not what the land creatures really mean, someone should let the fish know.
(I really like this analogy, BTW. Seems like it can keep a lid on the rancor.)
Bloomfeld, I don’t think it’s all that complicated. The recent Olympics bought by (oops, staged in 
) Salt Lake City featured a reunion of the original team who had the honour of lighting the torch. Being the first Winter Olympics held in the US since the Miracle on Ice, it made a whole lot of sense. Among other things, it rekindled a lot of memories about that great story from those bygone days, and generated many queries from youngsters who hadn’t been around at the time.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
This movie was almost entirely filmed in British Columbia, by the way. For example, they shot the outside skating scenes at our local rink, which had been made up to look like the great outdoors.
Jef
I think it can sometimes have a lot to do with “superiority complexes”, Redwolf. Not always, but sometimes. That’s always been my problem with patriotism - it can often tend to manifest itself in the form of a blind, unquestioning love of, and support for, one’s country… even when one’s country (it’s leaders or the majority of its citizens) behave unacceptably. Pride and arrogance are related by blood.
No finger-pointing here, by the way. Just a general observation I’d apply to my own country as readily as to any one else’s.
And that’s irony!
The action on ice is very good;
many of the actors played hockey,
some in the minor leagues.
Kurt Russell is the coach,
part Minnesota blandness, part
obsessed to the point of
madness, who sees how
the Olympics can be won and trains
the boys to do it. For one
thing he makes sure that they
are physically more fit than the
Soviets, many of whom have
been playing together for fifteen
years. The average age of our team
is 21. But also he sees that the most
talented players won’t win; he
needs people who can play together
the sort of game the Soviets play,
can learn it in six months, and
then take it aggressively to the
other team. Best
There’s nothing sinister about the movie. But. . .
Does anyone sincerely doubt that a Cuban-produced movie depicting Cuban Olympic dominance of baseball would lead a certain segment of the US media to characterize the movie as propaganda, nationalism, or indoctrination? That aspect would at least be part of the windup.
If the Soviets produced a movie heralding their 1988 Olympic men’s basketball victory over the US, does anyone doubt it would be presented similarly? Sure - folks in the US would assign deeper meaning. Heck, if those Rooskies want to relive the victory, or inform their kids, they could just air a replay of the game.
In the US we’ve been routinely prompted and cued regarding propaganda abroad, but the radar doesn’t go all the way 'round. We often fail to associate self-flattering, factually inaccurate, depictions and accounts of historical events with anything other than objective truth. We can spot an enemy via satellite, but some don’t consider the mirror part of the tool kit.
If the Soviets produced a movie heralding their 1988 Olympic men’s basketball victory over the US, does anyone doubt it would be presented similarly? Sure - folks in the US would assign deeper meaning. Heck, if those Rooskies want to relive the victory, or inform their kids, they could just air a replay of the game.
There would also be the matter of showing how it came
to happen, and if that story was good enough,
it might well make a good drama.
Of course the movie is patriotic,
it matters to the players and the coach that
they are representing their country,
and I suppose that those whose favorite
sport is America bashing
would do better to look elsewhere.
But Rocky III it ain’t.
Also it’s flawed in small ways, especially
the routine stuff about the wife and family
complaining that the coach isn’t paying
them enough attention because he’s
coaching the US olympic hockey team,
etc. But it’s well worth seeing. Once
again, it’s principally about people. Best