Great men, the Carters...

Rating: 8/10 (15 December 2005)

There's a lot to say about "Coach Carter" leaving aside the simple fact that it is a very good film. Its director, Thomas Carter, is surely a very determined man and a dedicate worker. His camera moves like it knows the territory by heart; it moves with a lot of freedom and confidence. Sometimes, it seems to be in someone's hand, because it moves a lot; because there's a lot to see in this movie.
The same happened in "Save the last dance" a very well crafted piece directed by Carter, that dealt, among other things, with racial problems, as does "Coach Carter" in some ways. But Carter is no writer, he's a director that could seem like a writer because he really wants to direct. Anyway, here the writers are a mix of experts about what the movie needed to deal with.
Mark Schawn created "One Tree Hill", a TV show where the main characters play basketball, as the characters of this film do. He also wrote "The Perfect Score", a picture I haven't seen but I imagine covers a lot of young students personal issues, as "Coach Carter". The other writer was responsible for two sports movies; one about love ("Summer Catch") and another one about dreams and inspiration ("Hardball"). It is a perfect team.
And a perfect result, too; because their screenplay is flawless, at least in the issues it presents. "We're going to treat ourselves with respect", Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) says during his first training at Richmond School. He must be a good coach, because his son (solid Robert Ri'chard) moved from an esteemed high school, to one that graduates the 50% of its students just to train with his dad.
Ken Carter is a good coach, but in his own ways. The year before he arrived, the school's team the Oilers won only four games; now they're undefeated. The man is accomplishing his job, but not the totality of it. The other part relies in a contract every student signed before being in the team. It includes attending all of the classes in front row, maintaining a 2.3 average and wearing tie on the game's day. Technically, by not following the rules, the students are failing.
But for Coach Carter they are all failing, because they are team, and this among other things is what he intends to teach them, indirectly. "What is your deepest fear?", he asks Timo Cruz (impressive Rick Gonzalez), when he has to complete an impossible task to be back on the teamWhat does that mean? "What does your father do?", he asks Jason Lyle (debutant Channing Tatum). "My father's in prison", the boy answers. "Ask yourself if you wanna end like him", Carter finishes.
His methods will generate controversy, he will be questioned by everyone, but what really matters isn't what the parents think, or what the school principals think; what really matters is what the kids think is best for them, and what they want for their future.
The whole young cast is adequate. Nana Gbewonyo, Antwon Tanner. They're all talented, especially Rob Brown (that boy from Finding Forrester) as Kenyon Stone, an intelligent young man with a pregnant girlfriend (young pregnancy is dealt with, as in the director's previous film) played naturally by Ashanti. I would like to see a lot more of Brown, because he's got a lot to give.
However, the generator of the environment and the head of the project is Mister Samuel L. Jackson, with a bald head and an ambiguous look. Used to play "the man" (ironically that's the name of his last film), as he did in "S.W.A.T", "Shaft" or going back in "One Eight Seven", puts the soberness away and creates a humanly defined character, in what's his best performance in three years; since his dedicate father in "Changing Lanes".
I will make no commentaries about the cheesy music I despise so much and forgot to mention in "The Longest Yard"; but I'll say it works, no matter how hard we try to reject itFinally, the fact that "Coach Carter" is based on a true story, leaves me even more amazed than how I already am of this film-making achievement.