McFarland, USA: about more than champions

Rating: 9/10 (17 July 2015)

"Inspirational Films" is a well-rehearsed genre which, after the likes of Hoosiers, Rudy, Rocky, Remember the Titans, and so many others, tends to be either loved or nauseating to viewers; for this reason I take them with moderation. But joining Kevin Costner for McFarland, USA–which means overcoming the terror of watching a Disney inspiration film with its tired-to-death formulas–brought me no regrets. Don't let the cliché subtitle, "Champions can come from anywhere," deceive you. On the contrary, there's something special about this film, and the best things about it have little to do with becoming championship-winners.
The story takes up the familiar basic premise shared by sports and teacher movies: a low-in-life group of kids from a backward, bottom-of-the-barrel school. But it has a discernment of character that shows on two fronts. First, contrary to the usual Teacher-genre of bad kids that need to be redeemed ("To Sir, With Love", "Stand and Deliver", two of my all-time favorites), from the start McFarland highlights the deep virtue that drives these boys, who make up for prospects and lack of ambition with work ethic and family devotion. Second, while other shows emphasize the teacher/coach bringing something out of the boys that they couldn't see, this show splits the bill with Coach White's own development beyond his volatile ego and racial ignorance to developing, and showing, genuine compassion for these boys–not magically appearing, innately possessed care, but empathy that he fights for and develops as the story progresses. At the same time he is overcoming his insecurities and struggling with providing and protecting a family his frustrated character has let down time and again.
There are certainly some flaws in the story. The already-long film didn't manage to return to the issue of getting the field-labor parents on-board with the idea of the boys going to college, and for all the quality of the boys it was still felt a little too fast/easy for Coach White to sell them on brutal runs, harsh-but-needed words, and a somewhat cantankerous persona. The White family, though central to the story and Coach White's identity and challenges, takes a back-seat place in character development, screen time, and scripting, so that they come off flat and as necessary scenery. All of these are the sort of things "that would have been better in the book," but the film simply didn't have the resources to give them. But Costner did a fine job in the text-book roll of the firm-but-loving teacher, adding nuances from the humbleness he is painfully gaining through failure, the confusion of racial ignorance, and the concerns of a would-be provider, loving husband & father "on a teacher's salary", and never-before cross-country coach.
This show is a refreshing cut-above-the-norm because it's about more than winning a championship or bringing out buried virtues in the boys. It's about the assimilation of the White family into a new culture, gaining and sharing the love of a humble but vibrant community; it's about the adults, much more than the kids, overcoming prejudice; it's about learning, through sweat and labor and fears, how to gain love for a people who are from another world than you understand.