Freeland, Sydney

This inspirational sports movie follows a high school basketball team in New Mexico with deep Native American heritage.The sports drama “Rez Ball” rapidly shows the tough road ahead for the Chuska Warriors, a New Mexico high school basketball team. When Jimmy (Kauchani Bratt) and Nataanii (Kusem Goodwind) hang out, a bleak Nataanii is mourning the deaths of his mother and sister. When he doesn’t show up for a game, word comes of his death by suicide.Yet “Rez Ball,” which is directed by Sydney Freeland and written by Freeland and Sterlin Harjo, doesn’t dwell on the tragedy. Jimmy misses his buddy, but he’s also fighting resentment about his naysaying mother and insecurity about stepping up as a star player. Rather than milk the sadness of Nataanii’s death, the plot about Native American athletes shooting for the state championship gathers its momentum from their teamwork and persistence.The team’s relatively mild coach, Heather (Jessica Matten), who is Native American, inspires her players with the use of Navajo-language play signals and instills discipline with a sheepherding team-building exercise. Her Warriors rack up wins, falter, then muster enough hustle to compete on a state level. The movie tends to race through actual game play — though the actors at least can handle the ball — and so the film’s strength lies more in the players’ easy rapport and the New Mexico location shooting.The fictional tale is inspired by the book “Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation” by Michael Powell, a former New York Times reporter, but Freeland and Harjo also drew on their experiences. It’s less a slam-dunk nail-biter than a matter of can-do self-determination, or as Jimmy’s friends say: stoodis (“let’s do this”).Rez BallRated PG-13 for thematic elements including suicide and some teenage smack-talking. Running time: 1 hour 51 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More