ReelBob: ‘Valiant’ ★★★★½

By Bob Bloom

Sports is fun and entertaining, but it also can be inspirational and cathartic.

A prime cinematic example of the latter is “Valiant,” a documentary that premieres April 1 on Amazon Prime.

The movie, written and directed by Cruz Angeles, follows the Cinderella inaugural season of the Las Vegas Golden Knights, which was admitted into the National Hockey League in 2017.

Many of those interviewed in the movie were skeptical about an NHL team in a city in the middle of the desert. But owner Jim Foley, a billionaire businessman, was not swayed and through perseverance and marketing, he exceeded the NHL requirement that called for the sale of 10,000 season tickets to qualify for consideration. Foley had deposits on close to 13,000 tickets.

The NHL’s fee to put a team in Vegas was $500 million, which Foley paid. (Earlier franchise fees for such cities as Columbus, Ohio, were between $70 million and $80 million).

Like new franchises in other sports, such as the NFL and Major League Baseball, Foley’s team was comprised of players who were not protected by other teams.

Foley — a West Point graduate — named his team the Las Vegas Golden Knights. (The nickname of Army’s teams is The Black Knights).

An arena and practice facility for his castoff players were constructed. Very few people who covered and followed the NHL gave the Golden Knights any chance for success in their first few seasons.

Still, Vegas residents — who never had had a major professional sports team — were happy to embrace the Golden Knights.

As the team prepared for its 2017-18 debut season, tragedy struck Las Vegas when a gunman barricaded in a room at the Mandalay Bay hotel began shooting into a crowd of concertgoers on Oct. 1, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds more.

Angeles takes a two-pronged approach to “Valiant.” He details the horrific event’s impact on the Golden Knights’ players and personnel and how the franchise reached into the community to help the healing process. The team restores a sense of normalcy to a city that had experienced an unfathomable calamity.

Angeles shows how Vegas residents supported the Golden Knights as a healing salve.

The Golden Knights surpassed the predictions of the so-called experts in the hockey world. In that first season, the team fought its way into the Stanley Cup finals, losing to the Washington Capitals.

The people of Vegas supported their team throughout the season, while the players clung to the city, recognizing families that had lost members and first responders who ran into the carnage to rescue and save as many people as they could.

“Valiant” is not about wins and losses; it’s not even a tale of a team far exceeding its expectations. It is a tribute to conquering despair and pain and embracing sports to regain strength and rise above the horror that crushed a city.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

VALIANT 4½ stars out of 5 Not rated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APyU1yn5r8c