Murderball

Contact sport is aggressive, which is why girls prefer tennis. Was it lacrosse that was banned from being Canada's national game because too many people were getting killed?

Quad rugby used to be called murderball - competitors break their necks on a regular basis - but Team USA's spokesman and consistent goal scorer Mark Zupan says, "You can't really market it with a name like that."

Zupan is one of the stars of this extraordinary documentary. Skinheaded and tattooed, with a blonde goatee and a sharp angular face, he looks like the leader of a Texan neo-Nazi gang, except he's paralysed from the waist down.

The "quad" part of this extreme sport stands for "quadriplegic." The players strap themselves into prehistoric wheelchairs, more like mini-tanks than sleek runners, and go at the opposition with such naked aggression they make American football jocks looks like prancing posers. The idea is to smash their reinforced steel chairs into the guy with the ball, hopefully knocking him over. One of Team USA's best players has no legs and stumps for arms. Disability, it seems, is neither a handicap, nor a dirty word. "We use everything we have to get through life."

The film is not a sports doc, as such, although the games are thrilling, especially the final at the Athens Paralympics. It's as much to do with who they are - fit guys, in training, with the same competitive zeal (probably more) than able-bodied athletes - and why they ended up with shattered bodies and how they cope with it.

The other star of the show is Joe Soares, a first generation Portuguese-American, who was a regular in the USA team until he was considered too old. Joe must be one the angriest men on the planet. Furious at being dropped, he went north and became the coach for Team Canada, leading them to a famous victory over his old compatriots, before the ultimate clash in Athens.

"How does it feel to betray your country, man?", one of Team USA barks.

Joe smiles. He's a winner and doesn't have to say he's sorry.

The emotion, the passion, the fierce pride ("We're not going for a hug; we're going for a f***ing gold medal"), the courage and the pain is what drives these men. There are also families, fans and females.

"I don't like big tits."

"You like shoes."

"Yes, I like shoes."

This from a man who can't walk.