In the state of Indiana where life revolves around high school basketball, what happens to a community when their beloved team, The Medora Hornets, can no longer win a single game? The team’s lack of success is really a metaphor for the bad luck this rural community has endured, and that all small towns are facing in the United States. Medora latches onto your heart without ever letting go as the individual stories of the players unfold, as they try to figure out how to survive in a town so small—there are only thirty-three boys in the school—there’s little chance of employment or advancement. You’ll be so involved in every boy’s story that you will groan out loud every time they miss a lay-up and cheer when they make a basket. You’ll be happy when they break the cycle of failure and get angry when they fall into the traps of delinquency and alcohol. You want these young men to succeed because you want the town to succeed—because as you watch the film you come to understand that “once we lose these small towns, we can’t get them back.” JM