A new Netflix Original movie is on the way and looking at the trailer (see below) that has just dropped, it's going to be a tearjerker. Rez Ball, which is about how a basketball team in a Native American reservation must come together for the state championship following the passing of their best player, is coming to the best streaming service on September 27.
Adapted from Michael Powell’s book Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation, Rez Ball sees director and writer Sydney Freeland (Drunktown’s Finest) and co-writer Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs) join forces to bring light to the everyday struggles faced by Native Americans living on reservations. The duo have even recruited basketball legend Lebron James as a producer, injecting the very essence of American basketball into the movie’s production.
Everything we know so far about Rez Ball
In the trailer, we're introduced to 18-year-old Nataani Jackson (Kusem Goodwin) who’s the star player of the The Chuska Warriors, an underdog high-school basketball team based in a Native American reservation in New Mexico. When the passing of Jackson shakes up the school and the community, the team must come together in light of the tragic news to see their dream of becoming state champions come to fruition. Putting all their feelings of loss and grief onto the side lines, the team's journey of fulfilling their dreams comes down to more than what happens on the basketball court. It is set to become a tale of determination, resilience, and solidarity – a reflection of the Native American spirit.
It sounds like it will be a heartwarming and uplifting watch, and one that might even land a spot in our best Netflix movies list given how personal the project has been for the crew involved. According to an interview on Netflix Tudum with the director, basketball is a sport that's always been a significant part of Freeland's life as she used to compete during her high-school years, making her a “huge basketball fan”. Both Freeland and Harjo resonated deeply with Powell’s book, which prompted them to look back on their experiences growing up around the sport to drive the story of Rez Ball forward.
"You have these small arenas, but they’re just packed with people. Where we were, we don’t have professional teams. We don’t have college teams. A lot of that falls on high school; where a lot of these native teams have had the most success is the high school level. So you get this huge turnout and this rabid fan base. So for us, it was like, 'Oh, this is West Texas high school football. This is Friday Night Lights, but it is from an Indigenous perspective,'" Freeland said.
