Documentary Review: Kings Ransom

The documentary I have chosen is called King’s Ransom and is a look at the details behind the trade of Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the LA Kings. The specific scene I am using is one where Wayne is just beginning to talk about the very real possibility of being traded and the beginning of what the deal would look like and why it would take place. The documentary examines the trade from behind the scenes and examines aspects of the trade that were not previously known. It breaks down the decision process by the LA Kings and its management as well the Edmonton Oilers and their management at the time, as well as looking at Wayne Gretzky and his personal feelings opinions and involvement in the trade. The documentary also touches on the impact that Wayne had as a player in Edmonton and the subsequent impact he ended up having in Los Angeles after being dealt. Since this deal is so historic in the hockey world, this documentary tries to reveal new information that the public did not know at the time of the trade. Rather than just looking at it from a hockey perspective, the documentary examines the deal in terms of economics, personal relationships, social impacts and the business aspect of the deal. The documentary is an alternative way to breakdown the trade and learn behind the scenes information, that is in opposition to the usual breakdown of the trade which is on a simply hockey focused basis.

This documentary makes its point by using a lot of personal interviews. Much of the information that is revealed is done by the maker of the documentary personally interviewing many of the important people involved in the trade. The main interview is of Wayne Gretzky himself and is divided up amongst the duration of the documentary with clips from other people inserted along the way. The creator also uses still shots and old footage in the documentary from the time the trade occurred and he narrates over it. There are also sections in the documentary in which Wayne Gretzky himself is talking or narrating part of the movie. In order to show the impacts the trade had on everybody the director also interviews Wayne’s wife and the issues she had and also talks to fans to get their perspective on deal. In order to display the magnitude of the deal the director shows footage of Wayne crying at his trade press conference and also shows images and video footage of fans rushing to buy tickets in LA after the deal. There is also at one point a shot of the crowd in LA after the trade which is raucous and loud when before the deal took place it was from noisy. It seems as if the director interviews the important players involved in getting a deal done in order to relay the information he wants the viewer to know and then uses images and video footage to enhance or backup what the people have said. He takes from sources that are not his own such as news footage, newspapers, etc. that prove his point. I feel as if the informal interview technique used by the director, which was done on a golf course with Wayne, is a strength of the film because it allows the viewer to be drawn into the documentary and connect with what is happening. At the same time, the personal interviews are a good way to inform the viewer if very important information at the same time that they are drawn in. Therefore the contrast between informally interviewing Wayne, and formally interviewing other people provides an appropriate balance that keeps the viewer connected, intrigued and interested, while being informed.

I think this particular scene is important because it is one of the first times that you see the director and Wayne on the course at the same time doing the interview, and they are just beginning to talk about the initiation of the deal. You already begin to get an understanding of how big the deal could be when they start to discuss the number of players and amount of money which could be involved. It also begins to start tackling other aspects of the trade outside hockey, such as the business and economic point of views, and the relationships that will be affected. This scene I feel does a good job of setting up the documentary. Although the scene does not touch on every aspect that is involved in the documentary, the viewer is drawn into the film and the director begins to show just how important the whole trade was through a brief interview before getting into the fine details and major implications later in the documentary. Therefore I think this scene furthers the movie because it sets the viewer up for the rest of the film and without it the viewer may not understand just how large of a deal the trade was, and if they do understand they wouldn’t know until later on the film. These scene is almost like a tease of what’s to come and is effective in getting and keeping the viewers attention