"Minnesota Mean" - Film Review
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Minnesota Mean takes your traditional sports narrative and turns it on its head by introducing viewers to a sport they may not be familiar with: roller derby. The documentary drops the audience into this world seven months before the championship fight for the Hydra trophy. This season will likely be the last for many on the Minnesota team who have been skating year-round derby for the last ten years. This is the Minnesota Roller Girls All Stars’ last chance at glory and we’re along for the ride.
Those who don’t know the rules will receive a crash course early in the documentary, but, as with most sports stories, it’s never entirely about the sport itself. Minnesota Mean is no different. As much as there’s tension in waiting to see if the Minnesota Roller Girls All Stars will make it to the championships, the heart of the film is the people. It’s the members of this team of women who have found community, support, and purpose in the sport. One of the rules of Roller Derby is that everyone has to create a pseudonym. Some of the team’s highlights are Smoka Hontas, Hurtrude Stein, Tonya Sharting, and Halluci’jen. These names are important to the women. They mean something and instill a sense of pride when they wear them on their jerseys.
emergence pictures
The emotional crux of Minnesota Mean is the women, and sometimes it feels like there’s a little too much focus on the sports action. It’s a difficult balance because the audience wants to see the women in the thick of the fight, wants to see them fighting for every single point as they strive for the Hydra trophy. However, to the untrained eye, a lot of the roller derby moments look the same. That’s no fault of the players and more a critique of the audience, but it is something to be aware of when crafting the film. Is their expected audience people who are knowledgeable about the sport or newcomers? These women lead fascinating lives both within and outside of their sport. The glimpses we get of their private lives put the roller derby championships into perspective.
Minnesota Mean is a distant relative of The Pistol Shrimps documentary from 2016 about the Hollywood and Hollywood-adjacent women who found themselves in a recreational basketball league. Both show the magic and camaraderie of sports and their impact on the lives of these women, but The Pistol Shrimps finds a slighter nicer balance between sports and introspection. Minnesota Mean is a hard-hitting introduction to roller derby, even if it does end up spinning its wheels a little too long.
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