A good movie, but rather manipulative

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2011)

Rudy is a great movie. Sean Astin is just great in the role of the underdog fighting for his "big chance", and at the end, (spoiler alert) guess what?: he just made it!. The movie is so well crafted that when the whole Stadium is cheering for Rudy, we, the audience, are also cheering for him. It's emotional to the core.
But, then, after the movie was over, I thought about the actual achievements made by the character, and... I thought it was pretty lame. It was his life dream, I guess, and he fought hard, but at the end it feels more like a "make-a-wish" story, rather than an "underdog rising to the challenge" story, as Rocky was. The great achievement of Rudy was not "rising to the challenge" but rather to make good friends and impress everyone with his effort and his unbreakable will... to just play football in a College Team. It's like a guy dedicating all his life to achieve a childhood fantasy, such as "going to space", or "visit Europe": it's nice, but the almost obsessive nature of the dream makes it feel a little weird.
And that's precisely the magic of the movie: it turns this "child fantasy" scenario into a full-blown drama, and it's so well done, that at the end you throw all your cynicism away and you're cheering for the character: fine, but it's also manipulative. I think there are far better examples of stories of people fighting for their dreams and hopes, rather than the story of a guy who "just wanted to play Football". But, for what it is, it's an excellent "feel-good-movie".
8/10