JAM

They may be in their 50s, but the roller derby athletes of Jam know how to take an elbow to the face.

Just a few days ago, I inadvertently face planted in the middle of a sidewalk, so I know how much it hurts to fall down. So when I watch roller derby, and see the skaters punch each other in the face, crash into each other, and catapult their bodies over the railings to land either on the crow or on the floor (but never on their feet), I know that the bruises and broken bones are oh-so-real. I can barely imagine participating in such a rough contact sport now, but Jam profiles hardcore roller derby skaters in their 50s that love the sport so much, they can't imagine NOT skating.

Jam follows several years in the life of the American Roller Derby League, managed by league owner Tim Patten, and consisting most of roller derby athletes that drew crowds of tens of thousands during the sport's heyday in the 1970s. But when the film starts at the end of the 90s, roller derby is a relic, and the league struggles to get a few hundres people to show up to their games in San Francisco.

Patten himself was a derby skater, but now he has to watch his health. He is HIV positive and healthy, but his partner is literally dying of AIDS as the documentary chronicles a few years in the scrappy league's evolution. Tim's business partner and later nemesis Dan Ferrari is accused by others as being shifty, so he branches off, and ends up hosting his own bouts while Tim has to step down for being sick. They both have different business styles, to the consternation of many of the skaters, but they both obviously have a passion for trying to get the sport rollig again.

The skaters are as rough and tumble a lot as you'd expect, with Alfonso Reyes, a start of the 70s who still plays up his image of being the bad boy of the legue; Larry Lee, a sweet guy playing for the "good guys" team, but skates beyond his physical limit, ending up with a horrific concussion that knocks him cold at one of the events; and Karey Marengo, a 40-something woman who wanted nothing more than to skate roller derby when she was younger, but now sees this opportunity as her chance at a lifelong dream.

Unlike the also-recent hipster, rock-and-roll documentary Blood on the Flat Track about Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls, Jam has more of a scrappy Rocky-type story arc. This is the last chance at glory for many of these athletes. And while watching, knowing of the full resurgence of roller derby the last few years, you just want to say to the screen, "Hold on... hold on just a couple more years! The world will catch on!" For these athletes, the resurgence may have been too little, too late... but still they must be thrilled that roller derby is back.