Review: We Are Marshall

By Cynthia Fuchs

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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 discuss the appeal of sports movies. Why do audiences like them? Do you ever doubt the outcome? What kind of feelings do they stir up? How does this one compare and contrast to other sports films you've seen? 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? Is it better to assemble a mediocre new team or wait a while before moving on? If you've seen the PBS documentary about the event, Ashes to Glory, you can compare the two versions of the story.

Common Sense Media Review
Conventional in every way, WE ARE MARSHALL begins with tragedy and ends in triumph. Focused 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, McG's movie is stuffed full of meaningful music and montages, but it rarely overcomes generic clichés.

Though it begins with the words "This is a true story," the film is decidedly fictionalized, neatening up the frictions between the two coaches who take over the program after the tragedy -- one a survivor and the other a newcomer.

Though he's scheduled to be on the doomed flight from North Carolina, 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. Chief among them is charismatic defensive back Nate Ruffin ( Anthony Mackie), who rallies what looks like the entire student population to stand outside the Board of Visitors' meeting and chant, "We are Marshall!"

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. Enthusiastic and ignorant of the dead team's legacy, Jack comes complete with a crooked smile, aw-shucks aphorisms, and a loving wife Sandy ( Kimberly Williams-Paisley) and kids (all offering mostly silent smiles in support of Daddy's adventure). Convincing the players and staff members that winning doesn't matter this year -- just "laying out" their hearts on the field is enough -- Jack doesn't exactly rebuild the program, but he does get to a climactic game.

It's worth noting that for all the attention the film pays to grieving men (fathers, coaches, President Dedmon), We Are Marshall is narrated by diner waitress Annie ( Kate Mara), the girlfriend of one of the dead players. She and the boy's dad ( Ian McShane) bond in sorrow, but she hardly has enough time on screen to reveal what is, in essence, another possible response to the tragedy: She actually does move on.

Fans might also want to see other inspiring football stories, like Remember the Titans and Rudy . Other based-on-a-true-story sports movies include Glory Road , Hoosiers, and Miracle.