Miracle isn't about flag waving, tears and dreams. It's about a coach, his hockey team and a game. While the story of the 1980 U.S. hockey team was deemed a miracle at the time, the true miracle of this story is the ability of the director, Gavin O'Connor, to keep it focused on what it was -- a hockey game.

Yes, the game held a lot of symbolism for Americans at the time. And yes, we can look back now and see it as the beginning of the end of the Cold War. But for the 20 players on the U.S. hockey team, it was about a game they were conditioned to win.

Focusing on Herb Brooks, the team's coach, the movie shows the process of that conditioning. As the coach teaches opponents to play as teammates, we watch and understand his methods, and we can see his incredible drive and frustration.

Kurt Russell does an excellent job portraying Brooks, allowing the viewer to understand him and truly get inside his head while not always liking him. Brooks is the only truly developed character, and the individual players are rarely distinguished, making them appear as a single unit, a team.

Russell has the difficult task of carrying the movie. Since Miracle is told from the perspective of Brooks, the supporting cast isn't always supporting the coach, yet screenwriter Eric Guggenheim made sure to show the other characters' inability to take any of the heart away from him.

Brooks says to the team before it plays the Soviets, "Great moments are born from great opportunities," and that's exactly what Disney had: a great opportunity.

While it would have been easy for Miracle to spout an anti-Soviet, anti-foreign sentiment, the movie instead chooses to promote a pro-U.S. hockey team working hard, and winning, with the only negativity being directed at slacking off.

The Soviets are merely seen as the team to beat, not a red block threatening American ideals. The only things that even distinguish the Soviet team from the Americans are red uniforms and a coach with bushy eyebrows.

The only truly distracting element is Brooks' penchant for plaid.

The most important thing that Miracle achieves is the feeling of watching a real live hockey game.

The camera takes us on a whirlwind, following the puck and the players, giving us the same experience as the actual crowd without feeling dizzy.

The true-to-life sounds of skates cutting across the ice, players getting checked into the boards and the gasp-worthy ping of the puck hitting the rim of the goal all help build the anticipation and pull the audience deeper into the game. As a Rangers fan, I've been desperate to see a game played that well for awhile, and Miracle delivered.

O'Connor also incorporated excerpts of the original play-by-play and commercials seen by audiences watching at home, re-creating the 1980 world in which the original game existed.

All the different elements come together, including a strong screenplay that doesn't romanticize the already idealistic outcome, a cast that acts as a team, sights and sounds that make your heart race and a feeling that, in the end, with enough heart, miracles can happen.