Don't miss this one

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 2000)

Jerry Bruckheimer Productions teamed up with a rather odd directorial choice (Boaz Yakin, "Fresh") to make a splendid film that is a must-see.
Set in the early 'seventies, it's about high school integration in the south. A black football coach, a white coach, and a bunch of black and white kids are caught in an impossible racial situation. Each individual has to figure it out for themselves. Is it about playing good, honest ball; winning at any cost; or making a racial statement? And how does one's manhood figure into all of this?
You lose yourself. The tensions/resolutions, obstacles/breakthroughs are stitched together with a best-hits list of 'seventies songs -- Marvin Gaye, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, many more -- that keeps things flowing for the whole 100 minutes or so.
Just one criticism, really. The sound-effects attempt to hyper-accentuate the brutality of full-contact football, a la Oliver Stone's recent film. That isn't what this film is about. It's about a great story, the characters and their relationships, and those brief instances of human interaction upon which so much depends -- greater understanding or chaos. This film doesn't need visceral shock as a substitute for content, its already got the goods, get it?