Coach Carter: A Story about More than Winning

Rating: Null/10 (1 October 2015)

Thomas Carter's 2005 film, Coach Carter, is not only a movie about basketball and "winning the big game", it is a movie about perseverance. Based on a true story about Coach Ken Carter and the Richmond basketball team, Coach Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) is hired to coach for four months in hopes of improving the game that these troubled boys play. Samuel L. Jackson provides a performance that keeps the audience engaged and affected by many of the movie scenes, as well as the message brought about by Coach Carter that separates Coach Carter from many other cliché sports movies.
The performance of Samuel L. Jackson as Coach Carter is extremely well done. Jackson performs in a way that is greatly effective to an audience and his performance is what made Coach Carter great. Yes, there are many other sports movies out there that have remotely the same plot, but it is the acting that makes these movies differ from one another. One of the very first scenes of the movie is when the team first meets their new coach. Coach Carter makes them sign contracts saying that in order to play basketball they must keep their grades up and attend all classes, as well as sit in the first row. Here one of the players, Cruz (Rick Gonzalez), talks back and disrespects Coach Carter and Coach Carter puts him in place with his "no tolerance" attitude that he portrays throughout the movie. This scene really sets the mood for the way Coach Carter carries himself and he does so in an extremely believable manner which sets his performance apart from many other sports movies.
The camera work in Coach Carter is also very beneficial to the audience. There was a scene where the camera work really stood out to me and it was during one of the many basketball scenes in the movie. Richmond was down by two points in the biggest and most important game of the season. The entire last 9 seconds of the game was in slow motion which increasingly built up suspense. This trick is very effective because it helps keep the audience engaged and anxious about what is going to happen. Aside from the camera work, the plot and story behind the team helps Coach Carter receive the recognition it deserves.
The boys on the basketball team are very troubled boys and they believe basketball is all they have. Many people go to Richmond high school to only end up in prison, not get an education, and many don't even graduate high school. Coach Carter, an alumni of this school and the basketball team, is not only there to coach, he is there to change these statistics. With the contract he gave the team, he is supposed to receive progress reports with these boys' grades. Well, the first time he receives them he realizes that half of the team doesn't show up for classes, while others don't finish their homework, or they are simply failing. Once he finds this out, he locks the gym and brings the boy straight to the library. This creates riots within the town and it is a huge controversy with the school, especially when he goes as far as canceling the biggest game of the season. Coach Carter is trying to fight against the broken education system at Richmond high school. This movie is not solely about basketball, it is much more complex than that.
Coach Carter is a movie very well worth seeing. Coach Carter does not only excel as a basketball coach, but also as a mentor to these troubled boys that are seen as people that only have basketball as a success in their lives. Coach Carter shows them that they are able to go against the odds and be successful after their basketball career is over and he is very successful in doing so. Coach Carter is not trying to teach these boys how to be good players, he is teaching them that if they want something, they have to work for it; nothing in life is handed to you. Coach Carter's coaching style goes way beyond basketball itself and that is what makes this movie unique. Coach Carter did not only change the teams winning record, he changed their perspective on life.