Warning. This article contains reference to suicide and alcoholism.
Netflix’s hit sports movie Rez Ball deals with some intense and complicated issues, and the film’s ending is just as complex. Rez Ball is inspired by a true story, though it follows the fictional Jimmy Holiday (Kauchani Bratt) as he learns to lead his team after his best friend and captain Nataanii Jackson (Kusem Goodwind) 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, but Rez Ball‘s themes and messages make it one of the best movies on Netflix.
Most of the issues that Rez Ball touches on are extremely sensitive and realistic parts of life for many Native American people. While those topics 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 examines 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 Need To Trick The Coyotes – They Leaned On Their Heritage
One of the biggest twists in Rez Ball came in 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, showing that he would be able to translate their play 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 couldn’t understand the language. It meant that they could coordinate with each other on the court without letting their opponents know what they were planning.
The Navajo language is considered by
UNESCO
to be vulnerable, as it has relatively few native speakers, and many Navajo people speak English instead.
Despite losing the element of surprise in their play 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 was never the element of surprise. Jimmy’s decision to call plays in Navajo was much more about building team unity and embracing the 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 & Why They Let Her Listen To The Radio
Gloria Had Several DUIs & A Navajo Guard Recognized What The Game Meant To Her
Gloria Holiday (Julia Jones), Jimmy’s mother, was a complicated character in Rez Ball, and her arrest at the end of the film was similarly complex. When Gloria got to the championship game in Albuquerque, she was pulled over and arrested, and the officer mentioned that she had a warrant out 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 run-down and driving too slow, so she was pulled over, and the officer found her warrant and arrested her.
Gloria had previously mentioned that she didn’t attend Jimmy’s games because she didn’t want to see him fail. Her decision to watch the championship game at the end of
Rez Ball
showed how much she had grown, and how much she wanted to be part of Jimmy’s life.
The circumstances of Gloria’s arrest weren’t the only confusing part of her time in prison, though. When she was first put in jail, Gloria asked the guards to turn on the radio so she could listen to Jimmy’s game, but they refused. Then, another guard came in later and personally escorted Gloria into a room where she could listen in peace. That guard was Navajo, so he was basically helping Gloria out of a sense of kinship. He knew how important basketball is to the Navajo people, and he also understood the stakes – 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 & Her Work
After the Warriors won the championship, Heather decided to stay for another season as the head coach for Chuska. That decision came as a bit of a surprise, given she was finally receiving job offers to coach at the collegiate level, which would have been a big promotion in terms of respect and pay. Heather turned down the collegiate job offers because she had finally realized that the reservation and the Navajo community weren’t something to escape, but rather embrace. On top of that, most of Heather’s reasons for leaving, like her girlfriend and the community’s hatred, had disappeared by the end of Rez Ball.
Why Did Jimmy Take Krista To Nataanii’s Spot?
Revisiting Nataanii’s Spot Let Jimmy Celebrate His Friend’s Memory
After Jimmy finally started dating his coworker, Krista, he took her to the cistern where he had previously hung out with Nataanii. That spot was special for both Jimmy and Nataanii: it was where they would go to chill out, talk, and find some peace away from their families and basketball. The cistern was also the last place where Jimmy saw Nataanii alive, which gave it even more sentimental value. Rez Ball showed that by bringing Krista to the cistern, Jimmy was moving on from Nataanii’s suicide, but he wasn’t leaving him behind.
Rez Ball
is available to stream on Netflix.
Revisiting the cistern also connected Jimmy to some of Nataanii’s final words. On their last night together, Nataanii talked about his mother and sister who had previously died, and he told 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, as now he’s the one who only has memories left. Jimmy had worked through the pain and anger of losing Nataanii, and at the end of Rez Ball, he was finally ready to celebrate his best friend’s memory.
What The Ending Of Rez Ball Really Means
The ending of Rez Ball tackles some very heavy and serious topics, and it handles them all with commendable grace. One of the most prominent and important themes of the film 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 of showing that the entire community was 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 was able to heal together.
Rez Ball also has a heavy emphasis on the importance of teamwork, but it goes a bit deeper than that: it’s also about the importance of community and heritage.
As a sports movie, Rez Ball also has a heavy emphasis on the importance of teamwork, but it goes a bit deeper than that: it’s also about the importance of community and heritage. The Warriors weren’t just learning how to be a team, they were learning how to embrace their Navajo heritage and represent the community. They all started out shirking their culture in some way: Jimmy desperately wanted to escape the reservation via college, and the other players made fun of him for going to sheep camp and being “all rez.” Even Heather was searching for a new coaching job.
Through Heather and Coach Benny’s efforts, however, the Warriors realized there’s strength in being a Navajo, and that it’s something to celebrate, not mock. Benny started burning sage for the players before games, Jimmy suggested they call plays in the Navajo language, and the Warriors fully embraced the idea of “rez ball,” all of which brought them closer to their ancestry and helped them win in Nataanii’s absence. It’s 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 declares that embracing one’s culture is a good and powerful thing.
Rez Ball even hammers home the power of community off the court as well. Gloria only repaired her relationship with Jimmy because she let go of the idea that Native Americans “always find a way to lose” and started actively participating in the community through her job and her AA meetings. Meanwhile, Jimmy only started dating Krista because he stopped viewing his job as a pit stop on his way to college and learned to appreciate the situation he was in at the time. Both in and out of the game, Rez Ball strongly declares that embracing one’s culture is a good and powerful thing.
Source: UNESCO
