Based on a true story, the Grizzlies tells the story of a young hotshot from southern Canada who heads up to the Arctic for a year to teach history to high school students in the remote Nunavut community of Kugluktuk. There he finds a group of kids who have little interest in school and are struggling to find ways just to persevere through a harsh environment beset by alcoholism, abuse, suicide, and the legacies of colonialism.
In an attempt to reach out to his students, he strikes upon the idea of starting a school lacrosse team. Once the idea starts to catch on, the young teacher learns that not everybody in the community is happy about the team, and that he might have just as much to learn from the Inuit as he has to teach them.
The Grizzlies is, at its heart, an underdog sports movie, and will thus appeal to anyone out there who likes a good sports movie. Beyond the sport of lacrosse, though, it really has a lot more to say about life itself, and the need to grind your way through its everyday struggles just to find a purpose to help keep you going. As with all good movies, it finds a way to tell a story that is both uniquely about a particular time and place and people, but still resonates with themes universal enough to be understood and deeply felt by anybody.
At various times funny, tragic, and inspiring, not everyone is going to make it through this one without shedding a few tears.
I was impressed by the film's ability to present delicate topics such as the difficulty of bridging the deep cultural divide between Canada's north and south without reducing any of its characters to stereotypes. The performances of the cast--many of whom were apparently acting in a feature film for the first time ever--were also remarkably compelling.
I honestly feel like this is the best Canadian movie I've ever seen, and one of the most touching sports movies ever made. I'd recommend this movie to anyone with a heart.
