Undefeated

Released:  February 17, 2012

Rated:  PG-13

Studio:  The Weinstein Company

Staring:  Bill Courtney, O.C. Brown, Montrail ‘Money’ Brown, Chavis Daniels

Directed by:  Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin 

Personal Bias Alert:  loves football, dislikes platitudes

8.3 of 10

            A summary of this film is destined to instigate eye rolls and subtle smirks.  The story is so familiar that cynics will approach it with a been-there-done-that mentality, and I can’t blame them.  I mean, how many times do we have to watch the noble white guy steer a group of underprivileged youth using the magic of sports?  What you’ll find out if you give this film a chance, is that while it does follow that exact path, it dives deeper than most into the dynamics at work, giving us an honest and worthwhile examination of this tired cliché.

            Headed by volunteer coach Bill Courtney, the Manassas Tigers are ostensibly setting out to win a playoff game for the first time in the schools 100+ year history.  But Courtney’s ulterior motives are pointed out early on, as he lists the things he’s had to deal with:  “Starting right guard shot, no longer in school.  Starting linebacker shot, no longer in school.  Two players fighting right in front of the coach when he’s trying to make things work out.  Starting center arrested for shooting somebody in the face with a BB gun... I think that sums up the last two weeks for me.”  He’s annoyed without being flustered, standing in front of a roomful of players with a tired, mildly dejected look on his face that we come to know very well.  Notice how each event is framed by something entirely unrelated to football.  Two young men are no longer in school, one’s been arrested, and two are ignoring the efforts of someone trying to help them out.  It’s the behavior (and its long-term effects) that bother him, not how it will influence future games.

            What you come to find out about Courtney and the rest of the coaching staff is that they’re just as intent on getting these young men on a solid path as they are about winning that elusive playoff game.  Not that football isn’t important; it’s incredibly important to everyone involved, and that’s what allows them to connect to each other, to speak a common language.  Movie people, like you and I, might cite a film scene to express an intimate emotion, while these guys explain the pain of an absent father as having to carry your own pads home after scoring the winning touchdown.  This connection, and Courtney’s dogged effort to keep them all going in the right direction, makes for some of the richest, most complicated relationships you can find in fiction or nonfiction.

            Documentaries thrive and fail based on their subjects, and while Courtney is a great find, the three young athletes the film focuses on go on some incredible journeys.  O.C. (whose last name I kept expecting to be Umenyiora) is the most talented of the bunch, seemingly destined to play college ball if he can get his grades up.  Money is quite the opposite; an undersized lineman whose determination keeps him in the lineup, but whose grades is his best way out of their struggling neighborhood.  The most interesting, however, is Chavis, whose temper problems have already earned him a stint in juvie and threaten to derail what little he has going for him.  Even by the end, Chavis seems to have the least chance of getting out, but the steps he takes in righting himself is so surprising that it almost makes the entire film on its own.

            While Chavis’s story goes about as well as you could hope for, the documentary format allows for the possibility that things might not work out for everyone.  Life is tough and doesn’t always go according to script.  There are times in this film when the blows start to beat you down, and I can’t help but feel that directors Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin didn’t get quite enough positives from these people’s lives to make the whole thing work.  Still, the relationships playing out onscreen is more than enough to make this documentary worth watching.

            Other Notes:

Ø  Their running back looked really good.  Small but fast, and with some slippery moves.

Ø  My favorite moment is when O.C. asks Courtney for some cologne.  He’s noticeably embarrassed, and Courtney good-naturedly teases him before instructing him on how to put it on.  When Courtney tells him he’s going to have all the girls following him around, O.C. smiles and stares out the window, gently rubbing his arms, caught in a brief moment of fantasy.

Ø  I kind of wish I knew where everyone is now, but then again, life’s tough.  Maybe I’d rather leave it as is.