BEFORE: Sticking with high-school football, before moving on to College level. I noticed that Bowl games started this weekend, which seems a bit early, but also a nice coincidence. My co-worker keeps recommending this one to me, so I figure I've got to give it a shot - I got a copy too late to make Denzel Washington week, so I'll work it in here.
THE PLOT: The true story of a newly appointed African-American coach and his high school team on their first season as a racially integrated unit.
AFTER: Yeah, this was a pretty good one - again, I'm not up on all the mechanics of football, so I couldn't always follow what makes one play better than another, or what makes one team's offense or defense better than another's. I suppose all those signals they're calling mean something to someone, but I'm clueless. At least this film dumbed it down a little bit - THIS guy runs faster than THAT guy, so I can pick up on that.
But to have a little 9-year-old girl who understands all the plays, when I don't? Well, thanks, now I really feel dumb. But then I remember, I was a bookworm in high-school and a film geek in college - heck, I don't even think NYU had a football team, did they?
Then we've got the theme of race relations - the film takes place in 1971 Virginia, when two high-schools were combined to make an integrated one, and the white football coach was demoted to assistant coach, under a new black one (Denzel Washington, last seen in "Inside Man"). Coach Boone forces the team members to overcome their prejudices and work together, and then the spirit of racial harmony (eventually) extends to the entire town.
So football (and a little soul music) puts an end to racism - the cynic in me wants to point out that WINNING puts an end to racism, and one wonders whether there would be race riots if the team failed to come together, or failed on the field. Also, there's a fair amount of sugared sentiment here, everything's shiny/happy/winny once the races start to work together - which makes the issue of racism fairly black and white, if you'll pardon the pun.
Also, the movie's pretty formulaic - all football training movie sequences are fairly interchangeable. And success is pretty much guaranteed - since it's filtered through Hollywood, and movies tend to be made about the winners, and not the losers. But these are actually minor criticisms - it might be a classic formula, but it's a great, uplifting example of one.
Also starring Will Patton (last seen in "The Postman"), Donald Faison (most famous for "Scrubs"), Ethan Suplee (last seen in "Blow"), Ryan Gosling (last seen in "Half Nelson"), Wood Harris (last seen in "The Siege"), Ryan Hurst (also last seen in "The Postman"), Kip Pardue, Hayden Panettiere (last seen in "Racing Stripes"), and Kate Bosworth (last seen in "Superman Returns").
RATING: 8 out of 10 field goals
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