Remember The Titans is a parable about racism, disguised as a sports film. The movie has all the trappings and cliches of a sports movie. The team coming together as one; the injured star player; the final goal in the final moments of play. And the audience, like the sports fans cheer on the winning team, not just because they won the championship, but in this case, because they defeated racism at the same time.
The movie takes place in 1971. Denzel Washington plays Coach Boone, a black football coach hired to be the assistant coach at a newly intergrated school in Virginia. Of course the white players resent the new coach, especially after the school board makes him the head coach and demotes the current coach, Bill Yoast (Will Patton) in the process. Yoast is ready to quit until he realizes that without him, the white boys will quit and lose any chance at football scholarships, so he stays and the two men, with their roles reversed, agree to work together.
Their first job is to get the boys to play together at summer football camp. The next job is to win football games, and overcome the hatred and racism that is boiling over in the town. The film simplifies the race relations in the town but it does not make the mistake of portraying either men as infallible. Both men are human with streaks of pride and stubbornness that they must over come.
This is the kind of role that Washington does so well. he delivers speeches and lines of dialogue that would sound ridiculous from other actors, but he delivers long speeches in a heart felt and direct manner.
As a sports movie it is popular entertainment. It is based on a true story and that's where I have a few problems. It's seems like the racial hatred that has ripped the town apart is overcome with a few football games. the boy, who have had years of hate and mistrust drilled into them get over in two weeks at camp. The film does not really depict any angry black people. The black kids exchange some words with the white kids, but throughout the film it is the whites that are shown perpetuating the racial discord. Forty years later it is difficult to imagine the strife that went on in communities as busing and integration took place, but it can't have been resolved during one football season.
The film features a rousing inspirational score by Trevor Rabin, along with a collection of Motown and pop hits popular in 1971.
A highly entertaing sports/message movie that has a lesson for all of us.
At the Movie House rating *** stars
1 comment:
You seem to be forgetting your primary purpose of this blog, which is to comment on my comments...It seems you are so busy reviewing movies that you are neglecting to attend to your fans
This is a 2.5 star movie just like the other 15 identical version of it made for basketball, Nsvy diving, football galore and even Debate Team
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