"You play to win the game. You don't play to just play"

Rating: 9/10 (28 February 2012)

Remember the Titans is a racial parable with a sports premise in the foreground. This is one of the selected films that does a great job at two different things. It doesn't get too preoccupied with either, and winds up making the two flow nicely without being heavy-handed or incoherent. It has great lead actors for the coaches, great character actors for the players, and a nicely concocted, if simple, moral that ties the ribbon on the package.
Despite a few noticeable flaws, the high rating is because the film excels at things other sports films don't even bother touching. We'll get into that later. The film is based on the true story of Herman Boone (Washington), an African American man who becomes the head coach of a high school football team in Alexandria, Virgina, docking long time white coach Bill Yoast (Patton) to defensive coordinator.
It's 1971. The Civil Rights movement has recently taken place, and the blacks now have equal rights, but unequal opportunities. It's that awkward period where they have rights, but still seem like they are fighting to prove they do. The blacks, who try out for the football team, are proud to see one of their own coaching a high school. The whites are furious, yet accept that they will be playing in an integrated team, with a black head coach.
The town has mixed reception towards the idea. The whites are very sour and skeptical, and the blacks are overjoyed, respectively. The team soon proves themselves worthy of recognition by winning game after game, when they are put through Coach Boone's long, painful, unforgivable drills at a two week camp.
There are a wide variety of students on the team, as one would expect. They are religious Jerry nicknamed "The Rev" because he is always praying (Kirkwood), tough guy Gerry (Hurst), bad boy Julius (Harris), stocky and simple Louie (Suplee), and many others. Even a young Ryan Gosling shows up in many scenes.
My favorite character, by far, was Louie. Ethan Suplee has a natural screen talent for the sweet and simple type, but plays the role not as a caricature, but in a very humanistic way. That's the key word here; humanistic. One of the many things Remember the Titans gets right is that it develops its characters, and doesn't believe it will happen automatically without any amount of effort. Screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard gives almost all the football players their own story to tell. Regardless of what they are, he tries, and succeeds impressively.
The role of Herman Boone could only be played by Denzel Washington. When you hire Washington to star in your film, you take one look at his serious face and know what you're getting. A fearless leader, that can carry a movie on his shoulders regardless of length or content, and never stumbles or trips up on anything. It is clear he learned something from working on Spike Lee's Malcolm X. In that film, he was a determined Civil Rights leader, looking to do anything for equal rights. Here, he plays a determined football coach, looking to do anything for equal opportunities on and off the field.
Like I said, there are some minor things that stuck out to me, more for the worse than the better. For one, the film feels a bit neutered. Sure, this is a bit pushy for a Disney film, nonetheless a PG rated Disney film, but everything feels a bit too simple. A bit too genial. Surely more abuse was caused by the townspeople rather than most happening on the field. There is never really a major conflict that isn't resolved within minutes. Also, the ending is a bit hazy. It doesn't really cement change in a very strong way. It almost makes it seem like the problem of racism and inequality depended on the outcome of a football game.
It is common for films involving a teacher, a coach, or a counselor, to take one or more characters "under their wing" to teach them greater things or to think outside the box. Yes, Boone inspires virtually the whole team, but we never see him interact with any of the team members, sincerely, one on one. He tells Louis in one scene that they'll go over his test scores, and I desperately wanted to see what those scenes could possibly unfold into, but they never came through. The man on man sentimentality lacks, but there is still plenty of motivational speeches to sweeten the pot.
Remember the Titans accomplishes a great deal, even if it isn't perfect. The levels it succeeds in, storytelling, characterization, and motivation, are some of the hardest to achieve greatness in, and the film appears to do if effortlessly. Washington steals every scene he is in, the football scenes are crisp and effective, and the feeling we're left with is a keen sense of optimism. For a Disney film to do all that is quite an accomplishment.
Starring: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst, Kip Pardue, Ryan Gosling, Ethan Suplee, Kate Bosworth, and Hayden Panettiere. Directed by: Boaz Yakin.