AllMovie

The Chiefs, an independently-produced Canadian documentary, pulls at-home viewers into the dingy and gritty realm of semi-pro hockey, for a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a struggling team in Laval, Quebec. Meet the members of The Chiefs, five players fighting tooth and nail to claw their way into the professional leagues. This unvarnished slice-of-life docu waves goodbye to the glossy, stand-up and cheer Hollywood version of ice hockey, as it sees real-life down-and-out team members holing up (and living) sans rent in 'The Rat's Nest,' a dank ex-storage space beneath the arena, and lapsing into some of the bloodiest on-the-ice hockey brawls ever caught on film. The candid and intimate nature of the filming also exposes the inner turmoil and struggles encountered by the men, both on and off of the ice, as we get to know them individually. The Chiefs won the Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary at the Atlantic Film Festival.