This Is a Game Ladies
Y
Dec 15, 2004
9-11 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15
PBS
You know that documentary filmmakers have done their job when they can make us honestly care about the women's basketball team at Rutgers University. But that's just what producer-director Peter Schnall and producer Tracey Barry manage to do in this extraordinary two-hour PBS film that follows the aforementioned team for two years -- intimately chronicling the triumphs and disappointments (both athletic and professional). But mostly, "This Is a Game Ladies" makes a star of Rutgers' legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer, an immensely charismatic, tough and passionate teacher, motivator and mother figure whom the camera clearly adores.
The feature-length docu follows the Rutgers women before, during and after the 2000-01 season that found the Scarlet Knights in the tumultuous quest for a national championship. En route, Schnall and Barry are afforded access that enables us to grow close to several members of the team and especially their no-nonsense leader. Coach Stringer is a proud and determined educator who was widowed young and forced to raise a disabled daughter on her own. But she never complains, channeling her focus and energy into making sure her players understand as much about life as they do hoops.
Inspiring without ever being mawkish or cliched, "This Is a Game Ladies" is as involving and exhilarating as fly-on-the-wall filmmaking gets, boasting understated camera work and tight editing that belies its length. It's an aching, personal piece of work that leaves you pining to hire this coach to be your mother.
PBS
You know that documentary filmmakers have done their job when they can make us honestly care about the women's basketball team at Rutgers University. But that's just what producer-director Peter Schnall and producer Tracey Barry manage to do in this extraordinary two-hour PBS film that follows the aforementioned team for two years -- intimately chronicling the triumphs and disappointments (both athletic and professional). But mostly, "This Is a Game Ladies" makes a star of Rutgers' legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer, an immensely charismatic, tough and passionate teacher, motivator and mother figure whom the camera clearly adores.
The feature-length docu follows the Rutgers women before, during and after the 2000-01 season that found the Scarlet Knights in the tumultuous quest for a national championship. En route, Schnall and Barry are afforded access that enables us to grow close to several members of the team and especially their no-nonsense leader. Coach Stringer is a proud and determined educator who was widowed young and forced to raise a disabled daughter on her own. But she never complains, channeling her focus and energy into making sure her players understand as much about life as they do hoops.
Inspiring without ever being mawkish or cliched, "This Is a Game Ladies" is as involving and exhilarating as fly-on-the-wall filmmaking gets, boasting understated camera work and tight editing that belies its length. It's an aching, personal piece of work that leaves you pining to hire this coach to be your mother.
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