‘Brutal Beauty’ a bumps-and-all look at roller derby culture

The 21st century revival of roller derby is a curious phenomenon: part aggressive outlet, part female empowerment and part (if I’m not mistaken) ironic reclaiming of a weird old sport.

And so you get Drew Barrymore’s “Whip It” and other depictions of tattooed, elbow-throwing woman chasing each other on roller skates around a track. The newest such example is a Portland, Ore.-made documentary, “Brutal Beauty: Tales of the Rose City Rollers,” which introduces us to a troupe of derby competitors on and off the track.

Like so many derby skaters, these gals have campy stage names. You will recall that Ellen Page’s character in “Whip It” was known as Babe Ruthless. Here we meet Blood Clottia, Madame Bumpsalot, Marollin’ Monroe and the literary-minded Scratcher in the Eye (a J.D. Salinger fan, that one).

We see a few glimpses of home lives, where boyfriends and husbands provide reasonably excited support. Roller derby is very much a grass-rootsy sort of endeavor, where the participants need to juggle their regular jobs while making time to practice and compete — that’s part of the appeal.

Another draw is the elaborate costuming and personal style on display, which is inflected by heavy metal and punk. If skating-champion-turned-1930s-movie-star Sonja Henie had been reincarnated as Courtney Love, she might be the prototype of the take-no-prisoners modern roller derby star.

So what about the movie? Well, the personalities are likable and often funny. Director Chip Mabry steers us through a competitive cycle, with a championship match amongst the Portland teams, and then a couple of traveling tournaments in the Bay Area and Denver.

It’s a shaggy sort of structure, held together by a very loud soundtrack. The music fits the overall vibe, which is to say it’s not exactly tuned for quiet contemplation.

At one point, a team manager (male, if that matters) tries to explain the basic rules of roller derby by arranging the doughnuts on a table in his doughnut shop. It comes as close as anything to illuminating the simple but somehow peculiar way the sport works.

Although — let’s face it — the niceties of a rulebook do not seem all that relevant here. I can’t repeat some of the goals of the competitors, because of their unprintable nature, but let’s just say that inflicting punishment on the opposition is frequently mentioned.

Hey, “It’s not a hobby, it’s a lifestyle,” as one participant says. “You either do it or you don’t.”

These women really do it.