Undefeated

Released by: Anchor Bay
Released on: February 19, 2013.
Director: Dan Lindsay and TJ Martin
Cast: O.C. Brown
Year: 2012
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The Movie:

“Football doesn't build character. Football reveals character.” That bottom-line assessment from Coach Bill Courtney in Undefeated sums up what the movie's all about: Football becoming a means to a better end or beginning for a group of North Memphis, TN, inner city high school students.

Originally a Blind Side-style story of poverty versus affluence in the old South, Undefeated instead focuses on what's at stake for the larger team. The stories of the coaches and players are all used to examine the social impact of high school football and what a difference it can make in the lives of some who don't get many chances. For the players, the film focuses primarily on just a few: O.C., the big talented player whose story was the inspiration for the film; Montrail “Money” Brown, the undersized smart kid that's one of their best players; and Chavis Daniels, a passionate star player with some serious anger management issues. On the coaches side, apart from the assistant that houses O.C. during the week so that he can get tutoring safely, it's all about head coach Bill Courtney. It's his voice that becomes the most dominant used here to build the basis of understanding to the audience just like it is with his team.

The team is from Manassas High School who have been perennial losers for decades. Courtney talks about wanting to change that, if anything to give the kids some sense of both hope and pride. He's very clear from the outset that football isn't going to solve all their problems or fix everything. Instead, he keys in on the core concepts of working to support others, putting the team first and working toward a common goal together. But more than that, as the filmmakers discovered and then show, the team becomes the only real working family for many of these kids. All of the main players focused on have no fathers in their lives and the coach connects to this since his dad walked out on him and his mom when he was just three years old. Being white, Courtney knows he had advantages that are not clearly present here and so he steadfastly and emotionally gets involved with all his players, basically using football as an excuse for them all to become better human beings.

The structure for the film follows the team for its entire 2010 season, initially building up and going through every game. The on and off-field struggles begin to amass and the film very plainly shows all the everyday details of these and the cost of them on everyone involved. But as Courtney's method begins to finally take hold the team starts to roll such that, by mid-season, the film just highlights the games remaining until the playoffs, an area where the team has never won a game in school history.

Along the way, though, these kids are shown to be the kids they are, with all the same issues of anger, depression, frustration, and lack of certainty like everyone. The film never plays the race card really outright, accepting the reality of the situation and letting that demonstrate the division between the area this school is in and where, for example, O.C. goes for his tutoring. The movie points to the inner strengths and weaknesses of us all, rather than using poverty or institutional racism or sports clichés at all. The “undefeated” of the film's title rests solely on the indomitable human spirit and the surprising and moving remote places that can be found. All it takes to get in touch with that is caring individuals that want others to succeed.

Audio/Video/Extras:

The film was shot on decent enough equipment and so the anamorphic widescreen in 1.78:1 is more than ample. But the characters never get overwhelmed with this so it all works out nicely. Most of the scenes are very well lit to begin with so contrast levels stay very even throughout. Audio is served up with a very healthy Dolby Digital 5.1 that absolutely thunders during the footage of their games. English SDH and Spanish subtitles are also available and are consistent and clear as well.

The supplemental audio track features directors Lindsay and Martin providing a good deal of exposition on how the story came to the screen and how much it changed from their original concept. Their tone is informative and useful for providing context as much to what is in the final cut of the film as well as to what they had to leave out. Six deleted scenes, a very well done B&W trailer for the film, and then a short “Making of” featurette round out the bonus materials, with the latter element providing some additional insights with the directors especially after this film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Summary:

As much as I dreaded having to sit through this - and, to be honest, I hated football players in high school - I found myself very moved by the passion and volunteer spirit of everyone involved in this story. It's not about football (thankfully) but about how do we make this place around us better and, for those with limited opportunities, a program like this might just be the answer.