There are sports films that give us a stunningly fresh inside look at a team. There are others that inspire with amazing stories. And there are still others that tell a story of that we have not otherwise seen before. The basketball documentary Medora pulls off all three.
Medora tells the story of a small town in Indiana, where the economy is failing, the population is dwindling and the community is all but lost. The town's high school suffers as a result, especially the sports programs.
In 2011, director Davy Rothbart chronicled the season in which the team battled bigger surrounding programs, meanwhile handling the pressure of the hope of the community and the despair of a winless season. As the movie sets to open this weekend, Rothbart told FOX Sports Live writer Aaron Torres what it was like to make the film and what life was like in Medora.
You obviously have a diverse background in filmmaking and a lot of other creative enterprises. Many of them are not sports-related however. Why sports this time around?
Rothbart: I grew up a huge sports fan, in the shadow of Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. I went to Michigan basketball and football games with my dad; my senior year of high school was the Fab Five's freshman year. So I grew up around sports.
Me and my friend Andrew Cohn (the co-director), we happened to see an article in the New York Times by John Branch, this great sportswriter about the town of Medora and this team the Medora Hornets who literally never won. They'd won just a few games the previous few years.
So the next day we actually drove from Ann Arbor (where we were at the time) down to Medora, to check it out with our own eyes. We got a chance to check out practice, meet coaches and wander around town. It was one of these tiny towns, around 500 people. It was eerie how still it was, yet how pretty it was too.
We also just thought this film would just make a great sports story. You always see the story of the team trying to win the championship, but how fascinating would it be to see a team win one single game? Because every game takes on a championship-like intensity, since it might be the only game they win all season.
So we got permission from the town and the next year we got our cameras and went down, and basically embedded ourselves in the town the following season for six or seven months.
How did the story evolve once you were in town?
Rothbart: We kind of went with a sports story in mind, but once you get to know the players and learn about some of the challenges in their home lives, we realized that it was an entirely different story all together.
Like a lot of these small towns, Medora is one of these towns that are literally fading off the map. The factory shut down, people are leaving the town, the school districts are shutting down all around them. Medora has been strong enough to hold on, but as you see in the film there are a lot of other struggles in the town too.
To me, that's what's interesting. When a town struggles, often sports are the thing keeping it going, yet with the losing streak I feel like sports almost took on an extra burden, no?
Rothbart: In a town where basketball is all they have left, winning means a lot. It's not like in some thriving suburb of a big city the team may be struggling, but they've got everything else their way. In Medora, they really don't have much going their way. To win a game means so much to them, it really does.
Once you get to know these kids and their families you fall in love with them and it's really impossible not to root for them. There'd be times where I'd be rooting so hard I'd literally forget to film.
Wow, that's incredible. It sounds like you were actually able to build a real connection with the people in the film?
Rothbart: The families were really willing to open their lives up to us. It was really weird how quickly they got comfortable with the cameras around them.
Anyone who plays in regular pick-up games knows that basketball builds friendships and you get to know people in a different kind of way. That happened with us and the kids, and I think that's why they were so willing to open their lives up to us.
So many of these kids come from disadvantageous backgrounds. How tough was it for you to stay true to doing your job, while also seeing these guys struggle sometimes?
Rothbart: Being a documentary filmmaker is a really interesting role. It's different from being like a news reporter. A news reporter goes in for a day or a week and tries to remain objective, but when you're spending months or years with a subject, it's different.
With these kids I'd be like helping them with their math homework, or giving them romantic advice. I was going on dates with them, I was in their families' houses. You get to know them in this really comprehensive way.
It creates a meaningful friendship, but it's a friendship that'll last. Long after the film is out, those friendships will remain.
Outside of what we've already discussed, how did the project change from start to finish?
Rothbart: This story is really larger than Medora and about what's going on around the country. It's about how small-town America is disappearing at an increasing rate.
We can't pretend that there's some sort of solution. The economy is shifting. But at the same time we wondered, 'What is lost when these small towns disappear?' What is the value of these small towns? We wanted to examine that.
So what we learned is how people in communities work together and pick each other up when they're down. In a town where people know each other, they look out for each other.
For me it's mostly just a story about four individual kids and their personal struggles. It's as you said, they came from pretty difficult personal backgrounds and dealing with some pretty intense stuff for some high school students.
The way they somehow find a way to fight through the challenges in their life was inspiring to me. They're not self-pitying. They're all going through the same thing, and stay upbeat and courageous.
We've seen these stories of sports in a town's identity and the role it plays. Now that you've actually lived through it, what are your thoughts on a city or small town being able to rally around a sports team?
Rothbart: I see that happening on a grander scale in Detroit. I'm from the area and you see a big city that's struggling, but when the Tigers are playing great, it gives the city a rallying point. It brings people together, everyone is friendly with each other, everyone has that common cause.
It's the same in Medora.
I knew how important high school basketball was in Indiana, but it's crazy to go to these games; there are 70 kids in the high school, yet the gym holds like 2,500 people. Some of these bigger schools that have 1,000 or 1,500 kids have gyms the size of a college gym.
Interestingly, you also understand why these towns don't want their schools to fold. It's their identity, but it's also their sports team. Imagine if one day in Detroit, the Tigers, Red Wings, Pistons and Lions all left town, because the population was shrinking?
So the movie is premiering Friday. What has the response been so far? And in the same vain have you done anything in Medora?
Rothbart: The response has been really great. It's been amazing actually. To sneak around in the theater and see people with tears streaming down their face, laughing at points, cheering for the team. I'm a huge Medora Hornets fan, but it's cool to see others become huge Medora Hornets fans, cheering for this team throughout the movie and falling in love with these kids.
We were nervous, what the kids in the town and their families were going to think of this film. So we showed it in the town library, and for most of the film it was kinda quiet. Then one of the players stood up and gave us a big hug and told us how much he loved it, and a lot of other people did the same.
What was so interesting was that one of the players said that while he knew his own story, but even after growing up with his friends around town, he didn't know the details of what everyone else was going through, their struggles. He learned more about his teammates and his families.
The response was great in Medora, and now we get share it all over the country.
