Movie Review

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 2013)

Remember the Titans is a movie that incorporates a plethora of topics, issues, and discrepancies during the time period in which it was set in. At first, the movie just looks like a typical football movie; a terrible team that comes together as the season progresses and, in the end, wins the "big game." You are in for a surprise if you think this movie is anything similar. Based on a true story, Boaz Yakin, the director, goes deep into racial ties and segregation, dissolving the stereotypes resulted form the Civil Rights era. Yakin does a fantastic job of demonstrating racial issues during the movie through the portrayal of his characters and the development of plot.
After a court order forces three schools (two white and one black) to integrate, the football team has to learn to deal with the differences in race. Not only is this difficult for the players to deal with, but the faculty and the parents are also enraged by this change. Throughout the plot of the movie, both races have to face hardships to get along and fight through tough events. After the two sides get into a heated altercation, the team takes a run to Gettysburg where the battle of Gettysburg was fought. This is the key turning point in this movie and it takes the movie to a new level. The two primary characters in the movie are Gerry and Julius. Gerry is an all-American linebacker who plays for T.C. Williams High School. Gerry is the heart and soul of the white student body of the football team. Gerry is the best player and leader of the white group. The other character, Julius, is the face of the black race and black football group. Julius and Gary must overcome the obstacle of race to bring the two sides together to disband segregation amongst the team. Both of these characters, in the end, result in being best friends. Along with these two characters, Yakin incorporates two coaches with different races, whom correlate perfectly with Gary and Julius. The white coach, Bill Yoast, was forced to give up his head coaching job due to the integrating of the schools. On the other hand, the black coach, Herman Boone was brought in and was immediately despised and loathed by the white community. Throughout the movie, both of these sets of characters have to overcome the issue of race. During training camp, the team runs to the battle of Gettysburg, where the issue of race is brought to light and emphasized in order to win. The head coach Herman Boone, who happens to be African-American, makes a speech standing in the empty field that resulted form the battle of Gettysburg. Boone's speech is extraordinary in its language, "Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fightin' the same fight that we're still fightin' amongst ourselves todayIf we don't come together right now, then we, too, will be destroyed." This quote, taken from the movie, is a parallel to the setting and time of the movie. Coach Boone is alluding to the Civil War and relating to how the South lost to the North. The speech is also symbolic in the movie due to the fact that he gave that speech on the battle ground of Gettysburg, the final battle of the Civil War. Remember the Titans is a movie that is made out to be great by the events of the plot and by the portrayal of the characters. Sports movies are just often times about how one team defies all obstacles and manages to win at the end. Remember the Titans does that, but it also teaches about racial uproar. The director Boaz Yakin decided to take this touchy topic and turns it into something truly inspirational.