Netflix Your Weekend – The Day The Series Stopped

After a long week you want to sit down and be able to watch a quality movie that will make you laugh, cry, sit at the edge of your seat, and have fun.  Netflix Your Weekend is Reel World Theology’s weekly pick for a movie currently available on Netflix Instant that will not only entertain but make you think and engage the story you are watching.  If you have a suggestion for a Netflix Instant movie, email Josh at J.A.Crabb22@gmail.com with the subject line “Netflix Your Weekend”.

NETFLIX YOUR WEEKEND – THE DAY THE SERIES STOPPED

Throwing you a changeup this week and recommending a documentary (1 point for a baseball pun).

October 17th, 1989, I was 5 years old and living in Racine, WI. I was in our finished basement sitting on the couch watching Game 3 of the World Series between the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants, when the feed cut out. I remember being five and not really understanding what was going on and I was pretty upset. The feed cut in and out and it sounded like an earthquake had stopped the game. My parents came down and told me after taking it in that it didn’t look like they were going to play the game, and I sulkily went off to bed.

The 30 for 30 documentary are the events that followed the Bay Area earthquake that halted Game 3 and stopped the World Series for more than a week. I knew that the earthquake damaged the stadium and halted the serious for awhile, however, I was not aware that this earthquake was the biggest since the 1906 earthquake that levelled San Francisco. The devastation was pretty bad and the portion of this movie on the highway collapse in Oakland is tear-jerking and awful. I really enjoyed this documentary and it is rare when I can recall experiencing, first-hand, an event that is made into a documentary.

What I really enjoy about ESPN’s 30 for 30’s is that they do a pretty good job of not making it about sports. They are stories with sports as the milieu or the background dressing, but they are really about the people involved and the more important life stories that surround the game. Not every one of their documentaries are like that, but the best ones are.  Enjoy watching this and it’s not nearly as long as some of my previous recommendations, so you still have time to watch another movie!

Josh Crabb is an editor at Reel World Theology, as well as sometimes contributor to the Reel World Theology podcast.  You can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, or on Letterboxd.