Review: We Are Marshall
What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that tweens and teens who like sports
movies may very well want to see this emotional drama, which is
based on a real-life 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people
from a small West Virginia university, including football team
members and staff. The crash is rendered in an instant (as an
electrical "zap"); viewers then see flaming wreckage in the
woods as firemen shake their heads (no bodies, just sadness).
Mourning, often angrily expressed, takes place at funerals,
over meals, and during football practice. The film includes
some iffy language ("damn," "s--t," and "hell"), as well as
tension among players, coaches, and boosters. In one scene,
players drink a case of beer, bonding in their drunkenness.
Families can talk about the appeal of sports movies. Why do
audiences like them? Families can also talk about how the
different characters in the movie deal with the tragedy. What's
the best way to honor the memory of the dead players and
coaches?
Based on a true story, WE ARE MARSHALL focuses on the recovery of the Marshall University football team and the surrounding West Virginia community following the November 1970 plane crash that killed 75 team members, coaches, and boosters. Although he's scheduled to be on the doomed flight from North Carolina, Coach Red (Matthew Fox) does his assistant a favor, putting him on the plane and driving himself home, completing a recruiting run on the way. Horrified that his decision led to the assistant's death, Red quits football, assuming, with everyone else, that the university will disband or at least suspend the program. But then, according to the movie, some surviving team members (who were injured that weekend, and so not at the game) ask to reinstate the program. University president Don Dedmon (David Strathairn) gives in to their demand, eventually hiring a new coach, Jack (Matthew McConaughey), who provides the yin to Red's yang.
Conventional in every way, We Are Marshall is stuffed full of meaningful music and montages, but it rarely overcomes generic clichés.
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