Miracle

'Miracles do happen', the announcer's original broadcast is heard during the scenes recreated for this movie, 'Miracle.' Anyone who remembers what happened during those Winter Olympics in 1980 will know what this movie is about, and how it ends. However, there can be no spoilers, because this is not a movie about a hockey game, or even the sport of hockey. Nor is it about the players. It is solely about the coach, Herb Brooks, who, with his unconventional style and wisdom about the game, took these young hockey players to a level no one thought possible. In the end it didn't really matter whether they won or lost the game against the Russian. What mattered was that each of the 20 players found out what was possible inside himself.

The movie begins with a montage of scenes from the period, the years, leading up to the selection of the Olympic hockey team in the summer of 1979. The cold war. The oil shortage and long gasoline lines. The disgraced President Nixon. The embattled President Carter. The Russians invading Afganistan. Then we see coach Brooks doing it his own way. A year and a half of scouting, one day of try-outs, to pick the 26 players which would eventually be cut to 20 for the competition. The DVD extras show us how much went into making the movie faithful, including a session with Brooks himself, who died in an accident right after filming was wrapped up. A very fine movie of a very inspirational journey.