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Remember the Titans (2000) Walt Disney Pictures 1 hr. 49 mins. Starring: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Kip Pardue. Music by: Trevor Rabin Directed by: Boaz Yakin 
Remember the Titans Rating:  
E-MAIL GIANCARLO DE LISI Racism is a topic that has been tackled with through many fronts. Yet, it has been a while since it was handled with the delicacy and emotional fragility that Director Boaz Yakin has brought to ‘Remember The Titans’. Through viewing the trailers for this film one can easily mistake it for another one of those teen football movies. Yet, that person would be thoroughly misinformed. The film is an inspiring tale of courage and humanity’s kindness. The filmmakers know that this was a very emotional and fragile subject, yet instead of presenting it in a sugarcoated manner, there is elegance in the way the story comes together. The story picks up fast, so fast than even before the opening credits end we are made aware of a major part of the conflict already. Set at the core of racial tension late 60’s in the United States, a small town finds itself in bitter conflict when two racially segregated high schools must share the same high school. The Blacks and Whites collide in a tense and at times violent manner that reflects the basis of the actual events in which the film is based upon. To add fuel to the fire, the town revolts against the demotion of their local high school football coach (Will Patton) for the new Black coach played by Denzel Washington. As always, Washington is excellent as the new coach who has more to prove to himself than to the town. And Will Patton; (Gone in 60 Seconds, Armageddon) is solid as the former team coach and new assistant coach. As stated before, it is easy to dismiss this film as a simple football film. When in fact it is much more than that. The film’s main issue is racism, and in order to build upon that centerpiece it uses the football as a means to demonstrate the fragile and complex issue that is racism. The film clearly demonstrates the tension between the football players, as they must all accustom themselves with players of the opposite race. In order to end this feud, Washington enrolls all these players into training camp and makes each player share a room with members of the opposite race. As time progresses, these players become more than friends and establish solid bonds that last long well after the season ends as the film’s final frame demonstrates. There is a great scene that demonstrates the essence of the film’s underlying theme on how society dictates what rules people must follow. In the scene, a team member stops a racial fight between team members. In that scene, the Black team member states that while they were away at training camp, they learned to respect and appreciate each other. Yet, the player continues saying that when they returned to the real world, society dictated that these inter-racial friendly relationships couldn’t continue. Society could not digest the mere notion of the partnership of blacks and whites in the same high school and furthermore, playing in the same football team. It is scenes such as these that make us realize that films can be more than entertainment, but channels of information to be spread and realized. The film is well done and involves some great characters that are brought to life from great performances. Noteworthy are the performances from the film’s two leads – Washington and Patton. In these kinds of films where we have sports as a big part of the progression of the film, we have characters that are supremely perfect and dominant. Yet, these two characters that are coaches are complex and ultimately learn a lot from each other. And as the film progresses, although none of the two admit it, and even though they are divided by their racial ideologies, they learn to understand each other and do away with their racist mannerisms. This film can easily be regarded as pure Hollywood trash due to it’s commercialism factor, and coming from Producer Jerry Bruckheimer who does not regularly produce dramas, it can be made an easy target. But the film’s true fabric is the underlying racial tension and development into racial harmony that is quite emotional and very memorable. Click here to comment on this review or post your own thoughts. Giancarlo De Lisi © TheWorldJournal.com |
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