Remember the Titans (2000)

Remember the Titans (2000)

7/10

Starring

Denzel Washington

Will Patton

 

Directed by Boaz Yakin

 

Remember the Titans is a movie with a soul of its own, a classy tale of how sheer determination can be used to overcome even the deepest gouge made by humans themselves: racism. The movie boasts some of the best performances you can see on screen, from the adults, the young men, and the child actors. Each gave performances worth being commended for.

Even though the movie can be predictable, the social message is strong and carries the plot most of the way. What carries the movie the rest of the way are the performances from Denzel Washington and Will Patton, not forgetting their supporting cast.

This Disney movie is based on a true story, but as you can expect, many liberties were taken to add dramatic effects. It’s worth noting that the Titans truly finished the season at the top of their game, but things were not as they happened on the field and in the camp as the movie depicted.

The movie plot takes place in the 70s, when T.C. Williams High School hired a black coach, Herman Boone. The team already had a coach in Yoast (Will Patton), but they had to hire Boone (Denzel Washington) in what they believed was a way to pave the way for integration of black and white students in the same school. Boone reached out to Yoast to come work with him instead of quitting, and both took the divided team of white and black players to a camp to perfect their game and unite them.

The whole camp experience changed each and every one of the players as they came back strong and took on every team in the state championship.

The movie also shows the challenges Boone faced working with the boys on his team and how Yoast had to learn to trust someone else to truly take charge of a team he had been coaching for years.

Remember the Titans is seen as one of the best sports-related American football movies you can see. It has a beautiful musical score, and it was both a critical and commercial success.

I know for sure, there is no sports movie-watching fan out there who hasn’t seen this movie. But it’s worth seeing again for the fun it carries. It does its best to avoid all the cringey stuff, stays away from the real social challenge of racism, and focuses more on how a group of young men were able to use friendship to overcome racism. It’s a positive movie worth seeing again.