Educational Media Reviews Online

Rodar Contra Todo (Rolling Strong) tells the story of the Peruvian national Quadrugby (wheelchair rugby) team from its beginnings in 2012. The Maximus Project (a program of USAID) funded the team for two years to get the sport started in Peru. Quadrugby began in the 1970s as a sport for wheelchair athletes with more serious impairments who are often left out of other adapted sports. Quadrugby requires the players to have at least loss of function in three limbs. Athletes are assigned a point rating for the level of impairment with a team being limited to a total of eight points on their team. The sport is mixed-gender, and contains elements of basketball, hockey, and, of course, rugby.

However, Rodar Contra Todo (Rolling Strong) is not really about Quadrugby. It is about the people who played for the Peruvian team. The director establishes that more than anything, these athletes are indeed people first. There are real human moments between a father and son, a woman who lost her mother and father, and even a romance that turns into a marriage. The film also demonstrates the difficulties these players face in their daily lives. Examples include getting out of bed; not being able to disembark from a plane because the airport didn’t have the right wheelchairs; having to take doors off the hotel bathroom door to allow wheelchair access (which still didn’t work); and even the difficulty of curbs, not to mention stairs. But the film is not just about limitations and difficulties. It is about finding something to believe in and achieve. And that is just what so many of these athletes do. It is abundantly clear that these people, through dedication and training, were living a better life through their involvement in Quadrugby.

The film ends with the team meeting with their coach after not having practiced for several months due to their funding expiring. There was a hopeful note though as the coach and team decided to practice together despite not having the funding. It is quite evident that the sport transcends a hobby for these athletes. As of the writing of this review, according to World Wheelchair Rugby, Peru is listed in the “Affiliate Members and Developing” group for the Americas.

Rodar Contra Todo (Rolling Strong) is recommended for courses in disabilities studies and accessibility. The film is also recommended for general viewing as it gives a broad view of the lives of these athletes, as everyday people, and competitors. (Note: this reviewer does not speak or understand Spanish, and therefore had to rely on reading English subtitles.)

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