Bouncing Back (2004) Online

In 2001 & 2002 Jamie Brooks was setting the lower division on fire playing for Oxford United. Winning the majority of the players' awards, it is not long before Arsenal get in touch and offer him a trial. However, two days before the trial Jamie is rushed to hospital where he is placed on a respirator and unable to move apart from his eyes. It is three weeks before Jamie is able to move even his little finger. This film looks at his attempts to overcome and return to playing football.

For the Screen West Midlands funding stream "First Cut", 2004 was the year of the documentary and, yet again I held some vague aspiration to actually put my money where my mouth was and take part, however I never managed to get around to it! Seeing the end products, I'm not sure I would have had anything to really make a film about because the films are mostly pretty personal pieces. Bouncing Back is a good example because it has the shared failing of many of the films – it engages but doesn't make a great impact, although I can forgive this film for being personal and not opening it up wider. I had heard about this guy when he was removed from the Oxford team for a few years but had not been aware of the specifics or the struggle he had to get back onto the pitch. Films like this are usually meant to be inspiring and, I suppose in essence that it was.

The film doesn't push any buttons though and I found it rather flat emotionally. It was an interesting story but it made me go "oh" as opposed to "oh wow". Brooks can't manage to convey his feelings very well and, although he says he was afraid and crushed it never comes though from his contributions of from the film. This is a problem because it is such a good true story (if he now goes to a big club and wins a major trophy it would make a good film) that the delivery is the problem.

Overall this is an interesting story that is worth hearing but not one that really engages the heart in the way that it should have done. The contributions and the delivery are a bit too flat and it could have been done better. Given the quality of some British feature films of late, the industry could do worse than to have a stab at a full length feature called "Strong as an Ox: The Jamie Brooks Story".