Best Football Movie Ever Made -- Two Hours of Pure Adrenaline!

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2015)

I was so impressed by the intensity and passion of LONE SURVIVOR that I immediately went out of my way to find a copy of Peter Berg's earlier film, Friday NIGHT LIGHTS. Naturally I expected a good film, but I was figuring basically this would just be another REMEMBER THE TITANS -- a family-friendly film about young men learning sportsmanship and life lessons while playing a rough but basically harmless game.
I was totally wrong about what I saw. It turned out to be intense, gut-wrenching adult drama, with darkness and small-town cruelty and despair so intense that it rivaled THE LAST PICTURE SHOW or even a surrealistic nightmare picture like BLUE VELVET.
Most good movies, even classics like LONE SURVIVOR, tend to start slow and spend fifteen or twenty minutes introducing the characters before the action begins. The thing that makes Friday NIGHT LIGHTS so exhilarating and terrifying is that you plunge right into the season along with the athletes. There's no time to figure out who the good guys are, who the bad guys are, what dangers are lurking up ahead. The pace never flags, and you feel blindsided every time something horrible or freakish happens to one of these young men, on or off the field. There are none of the scenes movies usually use to "explain" the coach or the adults in town. You just have to figure it out as you go along.
The football in this movie is more powerful and realistic than I have ever seen in any other film. There's no way to predict who the heroes will be, or which player will suddenly find himself thrust into the limelight. And the same with devastating injuries, failures, and humiliation. There simply is no let up, all season long. Moreover, not one of the young actors seems to be "acting." They all behave as if they're here to play football, not to emote for the camera.
Now, I give this movie ten stars. Peter Berg is a genius at the mechanics of film making and then some. But I was aware of some disturbing elements or at least some themes that might be misinterpreted. Other critics mention the large number of sports clichés, but for me the issue was a matter of persistent (if possibly unconscious) stereotyping of the black and white athletes. With some notable and important exceptions, the following trends seemed to prevail: Black athletes are stereotyped as having incredible physical speed and strength, yet they tend to be self-centered childish, boastful, and unable to grasp concepts like self-discipline and hard work. They don't study the game, don't work at learning, and don't practice to improve. When they meet setbacks, they collapse.
White athletes are stereotyped as being smaller and slower, yet gifted with phenomenal strength of character and humility. They never give in no matter how many hits they take, on or off the field. They play on pure heart, and as a matter of principle are always willing to push themselves that much harder precisely because they lack the massive strength and speed of the "other" guys.
You'll also notice that the white athletes are always being portrayed as fighting for some noble, abstract goal -- respect from the town, love from a distant father, recognition for moral worth. The black athletes just seem to run and jump for the fun of it, or because they're just born that way, or because having money and being famous is all they know of being valued or important.
I don't believe for one moment that any of this was intentional, but there is a sense that these attitudes were present if not prevalent in the minds of the filmmakers as they made Friday NIGHT LIGHTS. Ultimately, however, in the final game, the true message comes across, and it is one of brotherhood and moral growth shared by all.