"Disability is NOT a death sentence - You define who you are, and you can do anything."

The eye-opening documentary Murderball takes an intriguing idea of introducing people to the sport of quad rugby, only to find even more drama and action taking place off the court. The film’s touches on family dynamics, loyalty, friendship and healing culminate to leave viewers, regardless of their ability status, with a feeling of empowerment and appreciation for the competitive spirit of quad rugby athletes. Murderball is also a great celebration of the astonishing courage shown by these high achievers. It also captures the essence of sport and competition mixed with exposure to the realities of life with a disability, free from patronization and pity-inducing sentimentality.

This is also a film about how people grow and develop as human beings, the things that happen that make them re-evaluate what's important. Many of the players recollect how they came to be in a wheelchair and what their life is like today. Among the more compelling people is Zupan, arguably one of the world's best quad rugby players, who details how a late night of drinking at 18, led to him breaking his neck after being thrown from the back of his best friend's truck into a ditch, where he would remain for more than 13 hours before being rescued. Even after more than 10 years from that day, Zupan looks back on the incident with no anger or bitterness, simply seeing it as the end of one chapter in his life.

The players are quick to dispel a somewhat popular misconception of quadriplegics as people with no use of their limbs. They all have sustained neck and/or spinal cord fractures, but with varying degrees of limb disabilities, with those serving as ratings for the purpose of the sport. For example, someone who has little impairment in their limbs would rate a 3.0, while a 0.5 would be given to a player with little or next to no use of their limbs. Those ratings are then applied during the game, with no team allowed to have the players exceed 8.0 on the court at one time.

By the first time the sport is shown on camera, viewers are given a quick introduction into its excitement, with frequent shots of wheelchairs crashing into each other, occasionally knocking competitors over. But far from being intimidated by the sport's physical nature, these players thrive on it. They want to leave no doubt that they are not handicapped - they are athletes who just happen to compete in a wheelchair. Many of the other players interviewed have similar feelings about their lives, displaying an admirably positive attitude about situations that could easily have had lesser people mired in depression and anger. Not that those feelings didn't ever surface, as one describes his initial withdrawal from society, even being against going out to get the mail, for fear of people staring at him.

Aside from the accidents that changed their lives, their stories are mixed in with the rehab of Keith Cavill, a young man who is only months removed from the accident that led to him becoming a quadriplegic. The uncertainty and fear of his new life is given a genuine jolt of excitement when Zupan comes to the rehab center to introduce the residents to quad rugby. Sure, the collisions of the armored wheelchairs in Murderball are impactful, resulting in numerous metal dents, but it's the personalities of the people in the chairs that will leave the real lasting impression.