Rocks With Wings
Documentary (113 min.)

Is the moving story of a Navajo’s girl’s high school basketball team and its Afro-American coach. It proved a labor of love for the filmmakers, who were drawn back year after year for more than a decade to complete the pic.  Featuring play-by-play game coverage, a recap of thr Afro-American experience of the early 70s and a look at the Navajo culture, Rocks With Wings shows how the building of a championship basketball team affected an entire community.

Events transpire in a New Mexico desert town on the Navajo reservation that lies in the shadow of an impressive rock formation the Navajos call “rocks with wings” and Anglo maps designate as “Shiprock”. The docu focuses on two key seasons, that chart thr Lady Chieftains’ eventual victory over their nearby rival, the Kirtland Broncos, erstwhile winners of eight consecutive championships.

To a large extent, the Chieftain’s story of it’s coach, Jerry Richardson. The docu chronicles his arrival in New Mexico, his upbringing in Texarkana, Texas, the prejudice that sidelined his absketball career and his need to win. Richardson’s fierce competitive spirit and discipline initially clash with the attitudes and values of his Navajo players. But director Rick Derby shows how the success of the team manages to unite a town mired in unemployment and poverty.

Most evocative is the chanting of the Navajo singers which accompanies the well-crafted montages of fans and townspeople. Photographs, tapestries and sand paintings figure prominently to trace the cultural history of the Navajo, in particular the “spirit line”, a deliberate irregularity woven into the design so that there is a pathway out that allows the creative spirit to keep from getting trapped inside.