"Of Miracles and Men," an ESPN "30 for 30" documentary that tells the story of the '80 Soviet Union hockey team's loss to the U.S. in the Olympics in Lake Placid, premieres tonight at 9:00pm ET. The story of the U.S.' iconic victory is told "from the other side." There is "some overlap" between "Of Miracles" and another recently released documentary titled "Red Army." Both films "culminate not with the Red Army but rather the Red Wings" winning the '97 Stanley Cup with five Russian players. But the ESPN film "does a more thorough job of chronicling the time up to and including the 1980 game, while 'Red Army' focuses more on the rest of the '80s and into the post-Soviet era." The "eye-opener for those of us raised on American Cold War propaganda is how relatable the old Russians are" (NEWSDAY, 2/6).
Esquire's Stephen Marche called the film a "truly revealing portrait" and "so much more than a postmortem on what was, when all is said and done, not a very important or interesting or beautiful game." The N.Y. Times' Neil Genzlinger wrote the film "spends a good bit of time on the game, but first it lays the groundwork with a detailed look at how the Soviets became a world hockey power." It "doesn’t dwell on the loss," but instead "follows the threads emanating from the game all the way to glasnost." Awful Announcing's Ben Koo wrote while USSR D Viacheslav Fetisov's return to Lake Placid "was supposed to be the most compelling portion of the film, at times the retelling can be a bit lacking in new insights." The "most interesting" part was "the final third of the film which focuses on the aftermath, but mainly the influx of Russian talent into the NHL." Variety's Brian Lowry wrote of the "30 for 30" series, "Given how rarely ESPN adorns itself with journalistic honor, these gold-worthy docs remain their own minor miracle."
