By Adam Proteau
If you only get to see one hilarious, heartbreaking movie about a real-life, Slap Shot-like team in the Quebec semi-pro league this year, don't miss The Chiefs. The documentary, which already has garnered awards in four different film festivals, chronicles the day-to-day drama that comes with playing in the infamous North American League (the same one Flyers enforcer Donald Brashear was banned from earlier this season). And whether youıre a fisticuffs fan or not, you wonıt soon forget the plight of players who never will be mistaken for the selfish, overpaid modern athlete.
The movie centers on a handful of enforcers on the Laval Chiefs and yes, the team wears the same jersey used in the Paul Newman cult classic who live in a barely refurbished space underneath their arena's bleachers. Bursting with bloodlust, the teamıs fans embrace the goons as gods, but some of their low-income heroes are too busy trying to earn extra money in shady underground boxing competitions to notice. They are living day-to-day, shift-to-shift, paycheck-to-paycheck. They are what we are, and that makes them far easier to sympathize with. And if memorable characters are what you look for in a movie, The Chiefs delivers the goods.
There are fans who make pro-wrestling-style belts to prove their devotion, a fedora-wearing owner who can't mask his affection for ³old-time hockey, and a former Canadian soldier who says the NAPHL is ³definitely a lot more comfortable than being in a war zone.² In other words, this ain't no freakin' Mighty Ducks movie. The fight scenes are shocking and vicious, but watching these guys battle professional and personal problems with varying degrees of success is the scariest part of the film.
In the end, as in life, there are no guarantees of happy endings. But try and walk away from The Chiefs without feeling as if you know and care about players you'd never see on Hockey Night In Canada. We're willing to bet it can't be done.
