Worth a Cheer

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2006)

After seeing the trailer for "Glory Road," I started calling it "Hoosiers 10" as a joke. Now that I have seen it, I take that back.
The story is a thought-provoking one. I come from a generation that cannot fathom a time when basketball was an all white sport. This film accurately recreates that atmosphere, without doing so in a gratuitous or inappropriate manner.
The coach's determination to play his players no matter their color seems like a normal thing today, but the movie shows how unusual and groundbreaking it was for the game of basketball. The movie doesn't try to make this a huge national metaphor, but wisely keeps the diversity issue within the confines of the story's events. In so doing, it makes the issue seem even more important somehow, as if one game of basketball became part of the deluge that would soon begin to sweep away the racist status quo.
The acting is commendable as well. Josh Lucas excels in the sparse dialog, creating a physical presence that makes his character seem like living granite at times. Emily Deschanel has few scenes and lines, but she still creates a beautiful character for the coach's wife. The players were very funny. It was easy to distinguish between them because they were each unique.
"Glory Road" contains few sentimental scenes and very little romance. The coach is allowed to be a man, and the script does not force him to become a guru or a mother to his players. The bonds between players and coach are intense but not overly dramatic. It is refreshing to see men allowed to act like men, not weepy copies of themselves.
The beauty of this film does not lie in guessing the ending, for we all know where it leads. The beauty lies in celebrating the heart and the work that got an ordinary group of men through an extraordinary story. "Glory Road" makes us want to cheer, without manipulating us to do so. It reminds us that sometimes a big change starts with a single courageous choice-like starting five black players in an NCAA championship.