Hell On Wheels DVD Review

Hell On Wheels takes a from-the-trenches look at the dizzying clash of athleticism, exhibitionism, ego, politics and business that makes up modern-era roller derby. A group of hard-hitting Texas women overcome myriad obstacles in resurrecting and revamping the sport, only to find internal strife ripping the fledgling organization apart. Two leagues emerge from the clash, and what follows ignites an international roller derby revival.

Hell On Wheels reminded me a lot of the classic documentary from many years back, Hoop Dreams. It’s a documentary exposing a certain athletic niche (in this case, roller derby), but first and foremost it’s a story of triumph over adversity and seemingly insurmountable odds. It’s one of those documentaries that doesn’t really feel like its imposing an agenda or actively spewing various facts at you, but simply telling you a true-life story in an organic fashion. You don’t really feel the manipulative hand of a director or the obligatory political message that gets pounded into you ever couple of minutes in an effort to get you to cede to the side of the filmmaker.

Honestly, I’m not the biggest documentary fan, so this style of documentary filmmaking seems tailor-suited to my movie-going needs. In watching a film like Hell On Wheels, I’m watching a documentary, but I’m sort of fooled into watching it. In my mind, I’m just watching a good story well-told that just happens to be in the form of a documentary. When you get down to, I think that’s a pretty high compliment for a documentary film of any kind.

One of the things I really liked about Hell On Wheels was the complexity and humanity of the various characters (well, people) who permeate the film. Sometimes it feels like documentaries tend to gravitate towards character archetypes or over-the-top characterizations in their interview subjects. It’s understandable in some ways, because the director wants to find people that speak the loudest and in the most entertaining fashion for their few minutes of screen time. As such, if you want a clown, you cast a clown; if you want a bitch, you cast a bitch; if you want an angel, you cast an angel; and so on and so forth. This style of casting and interviewing starts to feel like certain people are picked to fill a certain role, and that’s their reason for being in the movie. The women in Hells on Wheels all feel like fully fleshed out individuals though. They have moments of greatness and moments of depravity, and the accumulation of their screentime transforms them into fully fleshed out individuals.

There are a couple of worthwhile extras to check out on this DVD as well. You get a couple of great audio commentaries by Bob Ray, Werner Campbell, The Texas Roller Girls and Bad Girl Good Woman. They all offer interesting stories and make for entertaining listens in their own right. Aside from that, you’ll find over an hours worth of deleted scenes that are quite interesting to watch because they allow you to get to know the girls even more. I understand that a lot of these scenes were cut for time, and rightfully so, but their inclusion on the DVD is much appreciated, as the scenes are definitely worth checking out on their own, even if they don’t belong in the final cut of the film. Finally, you’ll find a couple of music videos, including “Rollergirls” by USS Friendship and “Say Something Nasty” by Nashville Pussy.

Hell On Wheels is a documentary for people might not necessarily enjoy documentaries. It tells a true-life story about real people, and therefore must be classified as a documentary, but at its core, it’s a feel-good film about interesting people and a cutthroat sport that I heartily recommend to anyone looking for a good story.