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Two of the more emotionally charged topics in the USA are Aemerican
Football and racism. Either topic can generate heated debate
and both have been the subject of many movies in the past. To
combine these issues into the same film is risky. Sport movies
are often predictable and formulaic (either the heroes come
back from behind to win, or they end up losing gracefully after
learning some lessons about sportsmanship). And movies about
the race issue are often too preachy. The amazing thing about
Remember the Titans is that despite the fact that it is both
predictable and preachy, I still found myself enjoying it immensely.
Based on a true story, Denzel Washington stars as Herman Boone,
a high school football coach who has been sent to TC Williams
High School in Virginia to become the new head coach. TC Williams
is one of the first schools in the state to integrate black
and white students and Boone's appointment is viewed as being
merely political by the white parents, especially as he is taking
the job of potential hall of famer Bill Yoast (Will Patton).
Boone must some how find a way to get the black and white members
of his team to play together and win or he will face a modern
day lynching mob.
Denzel Washington thrives on this sort of role and there a
few others could have pulled this off without looking silly.
He wheels out stirring quotes from Greek mythology and American
history in a way that could so easily be naff but somehow manages
to sound inspirational. Will Patton (last seen in Gone and 60
Seconds) also does a good job while most of the supporting cast
are your usual array of wise cracking high school males. Of
these, Ryan Hurst is the standout as the arrogant captain who
must put aside his prejudices for the sake of the team.
A criticism of this film may be that it makes light of the
serious civil rights issues surrounding high school integration
in 1971. Other than a few fights, racially inspired violence
does not extend past a brick through a window. But then again,
this is a Jerry Bruckheimer production, so it is expected to
be more crowd pleasing than issue searching. If you are looking
for that sort of thing, there are plenty of other, less enjoyable,
films that deal with the race issue in a more balanced way.
At the end of the day, Remember the Titans is a very enjoyable
film about the difference that one man can make on a small scale.
Sure, it could have been grittier and more hard hitting, but
then it wouldn't have been as much fun.
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