A movie that needs no dramatization - was accurate

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2007)

I spent many summers with my aunt, uncle and cousin in Huntington, WV and was at the University of Virginia in Nov 1970 when the plane carrying most of Marshall's football team crashed. It crashed just a few miles from their home.
While my school was 300 miles from Huntington many weekends I'd make the trip to Huntington to see my aunt & uncle.
Just a week before the accident my uncle and I saw one of their games - a home game playing Kent State - and it was such an eerie feeling for me to know that virtually everyone I saw on the field that day was gone in an instant.
I don't think it would be possible for any director to truly capture the level of grief in Huntington at that time, but this movie gave a pretty good glimpse inside.
While this movie is about the rebuilding of a football team that all but vanished, the greater message to me is how they kept building through their intense grief, and why that effort was important.
Almost everyone in my circle knew someone - or had a loved one - killed. A poster mentioned that some in Huntington don't like the film - everyone I know - including my cousin, felt that it really captured the time.
The Huntington Quarterly devoted an issue to describe the making of the movie, and how the actors met - and mingled - with members of the community. I believe that the community embraced the production crew.
Kate Mara's character, according to my cousin, is a composite of several actual individuals and the restaurant has a different name but everything else is factual. Incidentally I loved Kate's character.
Matthew McConaughey has said that it is the most meaningful movie he has done.
I have recommended it to all my friends.