Ice Guardians (Raindance Film Festival Review)

There is an underlying etiquette to bare-knuckle violence. The very grown up decision to engage in fist fighting when one takes into account the ethical act of protecting your teammates. These are men who live by an unwritten code of loyalty and fair play that, when one considered each put their body on the line every game, appear like martyrs on the ice. By the finale the film approaches profound and its subjects are elevated to the level of martyrs on ice, a dying breed of men who fight out of love and loyalty. I was resoundingly won over by them and by the film itself. Titans of the sport like Gretzky, Semenko and a whole roaster of other toothless wonders who I had never even heard of before, I feel I understand just a little about the rich culture the operate within. When asked would you do it all again, an ex-enforcer is moved to tears. He holds them back however and after a long pauses answers ‘yes… and with a little more fire.’ Ice Guardians is a tale of fire and ice in this regard, a powerful and passionate documentary.