Remember the Titans

Rating: 7/10 (9 December 2012)

Remember the Titans Engaging But Exaggerated
Even though the film Remember the Titans, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman was a very emotionally engaging and entertaining movie, the sequence of events that occurred were seemingly exaggerated. The film Remember the Titans was inspired by the actual events that occurred in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971, which explores many of the fundamental issues of racism in the 19th century.
The film, directed by Boaz Yakin, follows the story of Herman Boone (played by Denzel Washington), an African American who comes to T.C Williams High School to coach the T.C. William's football team, the Titans. Racially divided, Herman Boone faces difficulty in getting the boys on his team to connect with each other, and also faces many instances of conflict with his white assistant coach, Bill Yoast (played by Will Patton), who had previously been the head coach. After going to training camp together and forcing the African American boys and white boys to further integrate and get to know each other, eventually the team learns to come together despite the racial divide that is still present in their town, Alexandria, Virginia. As the movie progresses, the bond between the players of both races develop and grow stronger, despite the initial hostility that plagued both the blacks and whites on the team. Wood Harris and Ryan Hurst also star in the film, playing the characters Julius Campbell and Gerry Bertier, respectively. Both characters play important roles in the film, leading and setting an example of the strong relationship that can be developed regardless of skin color. Initially facing a lot of discrimination from other teams, parents, and townspeople, together the Titans eventually start to change the views of the common people through football, in which they continue to have an unbelievable season.
The film Remember the Titans was overall a very well made drama that at the same time also informed viewers of the issue that surrounded that time period. Through out the film, you begin to gain a great love for football after seeing how it affectively brings together the whites and African Americans in the movie. Furthermore the choice of music further enhanced the emotional connection with the film while also exaggerating it to make it more amusing. An example being where the song Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terell was played in a scene where everyone was joyfully singing together in the locker rooms. The storyline seemed well developed and was easy to follow, always leaving the viewer interested and engaged with the film. However, in comparison to how the events actually occurred, the screenplay did seem exaggerated and in some cases, the characters misrepresented. For example, near the beginning of the film, on the street you see angry citizens, both black and white, ready to attack each other while standing on the opposite side of the street, divided by only a few policemen. Even though at that time there was a lot of racial tension, the film did over exaggerate the conditions. Ronnie Bass who was portrayed by Kip Pardue in the film was quoted saying, "They had a community divided down black and white, and it really wasn't like that in 1971 Alexandria," in an interview with the Greenville News. Besides this, the scene in which Herman Boone woke his team up at 3:00 am to go to the Gettysburg battlefield to give a motivational speech seemed far fetched from what actually happened. Furthermore, it was Ronnie Bass who also seemed to have been misrepresented in the film. In the film, Ronnie Bass was portrayed as being a hippie who was attracted to guys, where in one scene even ends up kissing a fellow teammate on the lips. However in actuality, these events did not occur and was only added for audience amusement.
As for the historical accuracy of the film, the producers and directors of Remember the Titans did affectively present the issue of racism and discrimination in towns and schools at the time. However when looking at a historical timeline of the events that occurred, the film seemed to be a little off as well. In the film, T.C Williams High School is seen as the first high school in their championship tournament to fully integrate black and whites together in 1971. However in reality, T.C Williams High School saw the integration of white and black students in 1965 where at that point, other schools had also began to integrate sports teams and classes as well. As stated before, even with the racial tension that was present at the time, it was not as bad as what was portrayed in the movie, where people were protesting on the first day of school.
All in all, the film Remember the Titans is a well-produced film that keeps you emotionally engaged through the events that occur and the characters that are portrayed. Remember the Titans is definitely a movie to watch that will leave you satisfied, but should also be known that in some cases, the events that occurred are slightly exaggerated and inaccurate.