The Hammer, previously titled Hamill, is a 2010 biographical film about Matt Hamill, a deaf wrestler and mixed martial artist. Directed by Oren Kaplan, the film's screenplay was co-written by Eben Kostbar and Joseph McKelheer, who also served as the film's producers. Russell Harvard, a deaf actor, portrays Hamill in the movie.
The film has been long awaited in the Deaf community. It's a powerful and moving true story, and we can all see ourselves reflected in it.
The movie is a simple story, well told. Matt Hamill was born a deaf child in a hearing community. With a powerful mentor in the form of his loving grandfather, played with grit and heart by the wonderful Raymond J. Barry, and a supportive family, he grew up different, fighting (often literally) for acceptance and inclusion, throughout his school career.
Matt never truly belonged until he became an adopted member of the Deaf community at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where the film shows him growing as an athlete and a person, leading to an epic and emotional finale.
The Hammer incorporates many of the proven components of sports films such as Rocky and Rudy, in telling the story of Matt Hamill the athlete, while providing plenty of additional biographical elements beyond the wrestling mat to give the audience a sense of feeling they really know the protagonist.
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The Hammer will likely fade into the distance as a biopic, but it achieves its goals, and then some. The greatest testament to a nonfiction movie is if the message and characters live on after the end credits.
Tungsten Thor's Hammer (World's HEAVIEST)
Audiences will settle in quickly to the traditional biopic formula, but in this case, the formula does not restrict the filmmakers, but rather frees them to use innovative techniques in service to the story. Multiple layers of commentary are laced throughout the tightly constructed screenplay, bringing issues such as bullying, alienation and angst, and the need for acceptance and inclusion, into the story.
The practice of subtitling the entire film is inclusive, and in and of itself brings the audience together in a shared experience. One way The Hammer breaks with convention is in its inventive presentation of Matt Hamill dealing with his deafness. In numerous scenes, the movie contrasts the hearing world -- what everyone else is experiencing at normal volume -- with his perspective, which features muddied sound. When Hamill is spoken to, there are subtitles (as in a foreign-language movie) of what the other person is saying (verbally or in sign language).
The movie also deals with issues that confront the deaf every day ... starting from the opening minutes of the film, where Matt Hamill's mother (played by Susan Gibney), who, after listening to the audiologist, is considering sending him to a school for the deaf, while his grandfather (Raymond J. Barry) thinks he should “mainstreamed†to take advantage of educational opportunities in the “hearing world.â€
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Growing up as he did in the hearing world, Hamill did not consider himself to be handicapped. He learned to read lips, and had very rudimentary knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL). His limitations are expressed in a scene at Purdue; Hamill enters a lecture hall late, unable to see the professor's lips as he his facing away from the students, scribbling on the wall-mounted whiteboard. Seeing Hamill, the instructor points out that there is an interpreter at the front of the auditorium to translate the lecture into ASL, but Hamill is unable to keep up with her rapid-fire replay of the prof's lecture.
Casting and Production
The filmmakers spent over five years developing the project, and they sought out deaf cast and crew members for the film. According to McKelheer, the writers performed "roughly" 75 rewrites to ensure Hamill's support and that the film would not be cheesy.
Kostbar was originally intended to play Hamill, but they decided to cast a deaf person as the wrestler to appeal to the deaf community. They first noticed Harvard in his brief role in There Will Be Blood as the adult son of Daniel Day-Lewis' character but were not sure initially if Harvard could portray an athlete.
Kostbar and McKelheer produced the film with their independent film company Film Harvest. For the production, they sought financing and found it with Fifth Year Productions, which was founded by the Farrelly brothers, Jim Kelly, and Bob Bartosiewicz. Most of the film was shot in Rochester, New York, home of Hamill's college, Rochester Institute of Technology. Scenes at Purdue were actually shot at the University of Rochester.
The superb cast, including deaf actors Russell Harvard (There Will Be Blood), Michael Anthony Spady (Cold Case, Sympathy for Delicious), and Shoshannah Stern (Weeds, Cold Case, Lie to Me), fill this movie with palpable emotion. I also came to learn that Stern, as a deaf actress, is redefining the definition of leading lady, as she has been cast in roles written for hearing actresses over her hearing colleagues.
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Matt Hamill at a UFC event in 2010
Reception and Impact
The Hammer, titled Hamill at the time, had its world premiere at the AFI (American Film Institute) Film Festival in November 2010, where it won a Breakthrough Film Audience Award and a $5,500 prize.
From then to May 2011, the film was screened at film festivals in Newport Beach, Florida, Miami, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, winning audience awards at each festival. The film was given a limited theatrical release as The Hammer on October 27, 2011. It was distributed by D&E Entertainment.
In many ways, the deaf audience has an easier time following the movie than the hearing. Nonetheless, the movie was a fun story with an amazing supporting cast... ESPECIALLY MICHAEL SPADY! Hamill is an important, groundbreaking achievement!
Hamill did something no other movie has ever done. It is no small feat to make the audience cry at a movie, nor is it easy to bring a cast of actors alive to where you genuinely care about the characters being portrayed. Those are all hard things to do and are necessary for a great movie... but they are not unique.
The genius of Hamill was the ability to place the hearing audience in a deaf perspective. It reminded me of Momento. You're watching a movie and then all of a sudden you're missing a few words here and there, you know something juicy is happening, but you can't hear.
This movie is aspiring to great knowledge for everyone. Inspirational sports films are a dime a dozen, with a notable few that stand out, such as MYSTERY ALASKA, but rarely does one rise to the surface as an exceptionally memorable experience for viewers.
As with many films of this nature, the obvious payoff at the end of the film is not the most rewarding. The Hammer is all about the journey, the ups and downs of Hamill’s life, which is dominated by downs. Harvard captures the intricacies of a young man struggling to become a success without the traditional tools given to a deaf child, such as sign language.
These most crucial experiences are conveyed in silence, not a mechanical silence, but a living, organic silence that illustrates the world in which matt lives. THE HAMMER also employs subtitles in a creative way, illustrating Matt’s struggle with reading lips. These little touches are what allow THE HAMMER to stand out from the crowd as an above average inspirational film, despite what might often feel a bit like a Hallmark movie, but also happens to be based on a true story.
The movie would miss much of its effectiveness if Russell Harvard weren’t involved. The actor plays Hamill during his high school wrestling career, when he had trouble finding a date to the prom, and his college wrestling career, when he faced the possibility of getting kicked off the team. The actor is able to bring Hamill to life with a believability and authenticity that feels true and ultimately proves emotional.
One error is more difficult to forgive. Spoiler alert: Hamill did go on to win a national championship as a college wrestler, but his most famous athletic experience as a UFC fighter is largely missing from the narrative. There is not one professional bout featured in the 109-minute film. The entire story focuses on his high school and college years, leaving his professional mixed-martial-art action as a small bookend.
If you are entertained, like me, by sports movies where the underdog comes on strong, then you'll want to stream this one on Netflix. It's about a deaf boy, Matt Hamill, who discovers wrestling as his key to success in a hearing world. It didn't bother me that it got sappy and sentimental in the last ten minutes, because I was really invested in this guy's story.
For me decades have passed since I watched a memorable film (i.e., Children of a Lesser God) about the experience of deafness. This one educated me about issues parents face in raising a deaf child.
Matt Hamill's Wrestling Achievements
Matt Hamill competed for one year at Purdue University, then transferred to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he won three straight NCAA Division III wrestling titles -- at 167 pounds in 1997, 190 in 1998, and 197 in 1999. He was undefeated his senior year, and compiled an impressive overall record of 89-3.
Hamill graduated from RIT's National Technology Institute for the Deaf with a degree in electromechanical technology in 1999. In addition to his folkstyle wrestling accomplishments, Hamill also participated in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. While still in college, Hamill earned gold medals in both international wrestling styles at the 1997 Deaflympics in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Here is a summary of Matt Hamill's wrestling achievements:
| Year | Achievement | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | NCAA Division III Title | 167 pounds |
| 1997 | Gold Medals | Deaflympics (Freestyle and Greco-Roman) |
| 1998 | NCAA Division III Title | 190 pounds |
| 1999 | NCAA Division III Title | 197 pounds |
Hamill launched his MMA (mixed martial arts) career as a contestant on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter TV series in 2006. After three wins, Hamill made a successful debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championships at UFC 98 in March 2007, and was a major draw in the UFC for four-and-a-half years, retiring from the Octagon in August 2011 with an overall MMA record of 10-4.