A new Netflix Original movie is coming and we’re taking a look at the trailer (see below) that just dropped, it’s going to be a tearjerker. Rez ball, which centers on how a basketball team on an Indian reservation must unite for the state championship after their best player dies, is coming to the top streaming service on September 27.
Inspired by the book Canyon by Michael Powell Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation, Rez ball sees director and writer Sydney Freeland (The best of Drunktown) and co-writer Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs) join forces to shed light on the daily struggles of Native Americans living on reservations. The duo even recruited basketball legend Lebron James as a producer, injecting the essence of American basketball into the film’s production.
Everything We Know About Rez Ball So Far
The trailer introduces 18-year-old Nataani Jackson (Kusem Goodwin), the star player of The Chuska Warriors, an underdog high school basketball team based on an Indian reservation in New Mexico. When Jackson’s passing shakes up the school and the community, the team must come together in the face of the tragic news to fulfill their dream of becoming a state champion. Putting all of their feelings of loss and grief aside, the team’s journey to fulfill their dreams comes down to more than what happens on the basketball court. It’s meant to be a story of determination, resilience, and solidarity—a reflection of the Native American spirit.
It sounds like it’s going to be a heartwarming and uplifting film, and one that might even earn a spot on our list of the best Netflix movies, given how personal the project has been for the crew involved. According to an interview on Netflix Tudum with the principal, basketball is a sport that has always been an important part of Freeland’s life, as she used to compete in games 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 with the sport to tell the story of Rez ball forward.
“You have these small arenas, but they’re just packed with people. Where we were, we didn’t have any professional teams. We didn’t have any college teams. A lot of that falls on the high school level; where a lot of these hometown teams have been most successful is at 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’s from an indigenous perspective,” Freeland said.