Miracle on ice

Benjamin 2021-12-23 08:01:31

Americans admire sports stars, even more than entertainment stars, because they not only have a pocket that is beyond ordinary people, but also a physique that exceeds ordinary people and a gritty American spirit. "Miracle" shows a group of newborn calves who are not afraid of tigers. With an average age of 21 years and a short run-in period of six months, they challenge the experienced ice hockey team and the Soviet team that has been the world champion for 20 years. For the United States in the Cold War era, the energy crisis, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the bleak domestic economic situation all made the new generation of Americans extremely frustrated. They almost lost confidence in the United States’ world position. At this time, the American ice hockey team performed miracles. Such efforts won the gold medal of the 1980 Winter Olympics. This most important medal has won not only face for the United States, but also the self-confidence of a nation.

For sports powers such as the United States, it is commonplace to get a gold medal in the Olympics. In order to highlight the hard-won victory in this film, the beginning of the film flashes back in chronological order to the major political events every year since the 1960s. There are a series of historical fragments that are not good for the US economy and politics, such as the Watergate incident, the Vietnam War, the communist movement, the death of Elvis Presley, and the birth of OPEC. These histories that we all seem to have been unfamiliar and forgotten are in fact the most painful memories of that era, and now young people can no longer understand the difficulties of their parents. We are more aware of the difficulty of this group of athletes.

The team composed of all the star players in the United States is difficult to match the Soviet team, because these stars always consider how they can have the best performance. In the most difficult years of the United States, the United States hosted the Winter Olympics, so this ice hockey game became a political task, because the Americans could no longer bear the defeat under their noses, not to mention the defeat to the Soviet Union, the enemy of the Cold War. Former world champion Brocks, who was in desperate order, decided to adopt the Soviet method to "learn from the barbarians to control barbarians". All new recruits were recruited. They went to various university ice hockey teams to find the most suitable players, and formed a united team for the entire team. To deal with the Soviet Union, not a single star. Brock's training method is extremely high-pressure, emphasizing absolute obedience to tactics, and even some Nazi tendencies. The players went from being ignorant to consciously playing for the United States, which is simply a reproduction of the spirit of the old women's volleyball team from the Mao Zedong era. At the same time, Brocks also encountered a family crisis. The young team members always thought about picking up girls. The team members' families could not escape the economic crisis. The streets were full of vehicles rushing to buy gasoline. The huge pressure did not crush them. They defeated the All-American star team, lost to the Soviet Union three days before the start of the Olympic Games, and the goalkeeper was injured, but in the end they created with the tenacious perseverance of "knowing what is impossible to do". Miracle.

Since the players who play the athletes are all members of the authentic college ice hockey team, their skills are naturally not a problem, and among them, there is also the son of the champion of the year Schneider, who really does not let him play his father. Because American college athletes all have their own majors at the same time, this film was able to find an acting major, and is also an ice hockey player Michael Mantenuto, this handsome and energetic young man, the performance is natural and in place, adding an iconic sense to the whole show. Seeing these young athletes performing their lives, sliding on the ice at the highest speed time after time, until the fierce passing and passing of the field in the game, the professionalism of the touch makes this film a unique real sports film.

The photography technique of this film also showed the intense movement and frequent changes of camera positions of the portable photography of "City of God". The close-up close-ups of the skates across the ice and the splashes made the scene more exciting. Since watching the live video is already intense enough, only when the movie is more intense and tense than the scene can it reflect the characteristics of film art. From this point of view, the film is undoubtedly extremely successful. The intensity of the scenes of the several games are different. The key game against the Soviet Union was also a climax. The closer the game is over, the more excited it is, interspersed with the high-pitched voice of the on-site commentator, and even It was a commentary that was completely biased towards the US team, abandoning the explanation of the Soviet team's actions, and then used short shots to continuously flash across the scene. The waves of cheering from the US audience were higher than the waves, and the transition of the shots became faster at the end. The voice of the narrator continued through all the editing, tense to the point of holding his breath, and the audience in the theater also applauded, almost to the point of no one else, as if they were really watching a live broadcast without knowing the result. When the victory came, the camera quickly turned to leave the scene, and the coach Brocks, who was crying quietly and crying alone, moved silently, one by one, with the boiling of victory and the sensible calmness, pushing the rhythm of the whole film to the climax. At the same time, it also avoids the loss of rhythm and sensationalism.

This film is not so much a sports movie, but rather an absolute politically commanding movie. Everywhere is filled with American-centric perspectives. So this political elevation makes the miracle of the film expand its connotation. This is not only ice hockey. The miracle of the team members is even more a miracle of all Americans. It is their continuous encouragement on the scene that their team members have reached the highest morale and played an extraordinary level. At the same time, they also slogans protesting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, to suppress the Soviet Union mentally, and there were hardly any Soviet cheerleaders at the game. Seeing this moment, you deeply feel the advantage of the host, and even the controversial goal when the bell rang at the end of the second game was judged to be valid. Think of the Chinese women's football losing in the United States. After all, the host is the host. This coincidence cannot be replaced by a bunch of sonorous roses. The political nature of the film is also reflected in the fact that the Soviet Union is always regarded as an opponent. From the beginning of the team’s establishment, the Soviet Union was considered as an opponent. However, the US and the Soviet Union faced off in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games, but the film completely gave up. The interpretation of the finals only used a voice-over to explain the results. Perhaps the game was more exciting, but the opponents were their own people in the capitalist camp. Their contribution to the political society is bound to be no more than the stimulation of the US-Soviet struggle for hegemony.

Just as "Pentium Era" was nominated for an Oscar, this kind of political leadership and the promotion of the American spirit rising in adversity once again found a reason to be concerned. The film can even be said to be the twin brother of "The Pentium Era", or simply an imitation show. It is an extremely difficult historical period, interspersed with many historical fragments, and tries to exaggerate the people who have fallen or survived in a difficult situation. Then these difficult people seem to take sports as an outlet for venting without thinking, and they want to motivate themselves with a strong and fair spirit of sports, but by the end of the movie, they have not been able to clarify exactly what the motivation of this kind of sports is to the United States. How long does the morale of the people have an impact? Reminiscent of our old women’s volleyball team, their five consecutive championships in that era took off the hat of “the sick man of East Asia” in that era, and at the same time they established the ideal of feminism in the new era of “women can hold half the sky”. At that time, our country had entertainment Activities and political attention are few, and the women's volleyball team has indeed become the most watched group of heroes. When the women's football team turns out, even if they have achieved the same brilliance as the old women's volleyball team, the attention they have received cannot be compared to that era. After all, the era is changing. Similarly, when it comes to the understanding of the film, if the people of "The Pentium Era" really have nothing else to pay attention to, and spend all their energy on the race horse, then in the era when this film is shown, it seems that the people have more things. To be busy, protesting against the Soviet Union is enough for them, not to mention young people playing rebelliousness. This has led to the excessive emphasis on the political background of the film, the stylization of the narrative, and the ups and downs of the next one can be predicted by seeing one paragraph. It seems that at that time this game really became the focus of the United States, and Disney went straight to the theme. The main melody complex inevitably reveals the overly sensational and exaggerated proposition that goes against the true nature of history, making it difficult for the film to achieve the persuasiveness and complexity required by the sports epic.

For this simple routine, and first-class photography and performance works, the American media will naturally coexist with praise and teasing, but the overall attitude is still positive. "Danford Post" commented that the film was "high-spirited and magnificent", "Chicago Lectures" said it was "an effective nostalgia for the era," and "Dallas Morning News" said "Obviously, the results of the film are not There will be any suspense, but this film strives to achieve the effect of firmly grasping the audience's interest with the clichés of a large number of sports movies, focusing on characterization and details." But I have always liked to see the innovative "New York Times" and he is not so polite, Mitchell said, "This Cinderella version of the American Winter Olympics ice hockey game is done by recycling the old storytelling method."

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Extended Reading
  • Emmalee 2022-03-21 09:02:18

    Perhaps the confrontation and coexistence of the US and the Soviet Union in the ice hockey arena during the Cold War was a harbinger of the end of that era? If you want to win a miracle, you must go all out every time, without any water or luck, and strive for success with a mentality of all-out struggle, only then can you succeed. First, coach Kur Tracy is ruthless, second, the coach is affectionate, and third, the coach is single-minded in pursuit of victory. The results proved it.

  • Joannie 2022-03-26 09:01:08

    Pretty decent in terms of plot, but for the cool slide on the ice, and a great final game, one more star

Miracle quotes

  • Al Michaels: Mike Eruzione, out of Boston University, the captain of this team, has just put the U.S. ahead for the first time!

  • Herb Brooks: [to Jimmy] You know, I've been meaning to ask you, how's your family doing?

    Jim Craig: They're doing all right.

    Herb Brooks: And you?

    Jim Craig: I'm doing okay.

    Herb Brooks: Look, I've got 26 guys trying to make this team; Jim, only 20 are going to Lake Placid, so I have to know now how committed you are to being here, because if you're not, you're just wasting our time.

    Jim Craig: Look, Coach, my dad's going through a rough time right now. He's got nothing, he lost his job, and with Atlanta trying to sign me... bottom line: my mom wanted this, me playing on this team. Can't say no to someone who drove me to practice every day, right?

    Herb Brooks: You still haven't answered my question, Jim.

    Jim Craig: I'm here, aren't I?

    Herb Brooks: I'll see you in the morning.

    [pauses, then throws Jimmy's test in the garbage as he walks away]

    Herb Brooks: Don't forget to bring your game.