MOVIE REVIEW: "Coach Carter" (2005)

Synopsis: The movie follows the trajectory of coach Ken Carter, who by accepting to return to his hometown to coach his former high school basketball team - Richmond - to make them true champions, has no idea of ​​all the change that will cause life (both on the court and in the classroom - of athletes)*.

When someone chooses a sport to guide a script, one must be aware that there is an extra challenge ahead. This is because basically it is necessary to understand the rules of the game and try to convey all the truth that it deserves in the stars... In other words, beyond the central history of the film, the sport has used as an accessory tool in its most correct approach. Well, that's exactly what is in this movie.

The setting of the movie takes place in the late 1990s in California city and is centered on the stern figure of a coach who is willing to make every effort to get a basketball team in shape and make them win again. Noteworthy, but for that, he works with extremely strict rules and that by not admitting too many mistakes, becomes someone with a profile difficult to be admired (when he is misunderstood). However, there are very real reasons to justify his behavior.

The script imposes - using the problematic low grades athletes are getting in the classroom - that the coach become the "villain" of the story, because once the grades drop, Ken decides to close the gym and interrupts the gym. championship. From there, the narrative adds more complication: the coach begins to be criticized not only by the players, but also by the parents (who see their children's futures as well as the realization of their dreams, a chance for themselves to improve their lives).

There is a direct objectivity in Ken's attitudes (something not everyone can see, so he ends up becoming a nasty persona for many people), because it is a character - inspired by a true story - with a motivation that transcends the courts and invades the school space in a very consistent way. The drama that embraces the story focuses on a figure who sees in others everything they cannot see in themselves and he will make no effort to show it. Nothing stops him and nothing shakes him when he defines what needs to be done.

Basketball becomes the main entrance channel for the script to show this sport as famous as a true tool of transformation of individuals before the society in which they live. While the movie sometimes gets lost in the importance it attaches to the sport itself (deviating a little from the story's proposition), it finds its way back and refocuses on what really makes it a movie to remember: one way to tell the viewer the strength that exists in each person when they find a motivation to pursue their dreams and make them come true.

Leading the good cast is Samuel L. Jackson with a solid performance and high points that add even more truth and quality to the movie (exemplifying a cautious and well-built character building job). The supporting cast plays a key role because they are responsible for making situations involving basketball as a sport credible and the transition from problems to school. Among the problems portrayed in the film are crime, racism, people management, sports, law, career management, the structure of the educational system, the attitude of a coach, and problems in family structure.

Together, they play characters that are complementary and that only gradually, undoing their bonds (something that ends up pulling them away), they realize how dependent they are on each other. This is very well worked by the writers because they manage to add the weight of a school drama to a level reflected to the walls outside the school, thus evidencing that it is a moral / socio-political issue and not just purely sport.

Thomas Carter directs the film with the certainty of who is aware of the material at hand: a concise script, yet profound in its representativeness. He can figure it out and works it - most of the time - accurately on the screen... Showing that sport can - and should - really be viewed as an element of social impact that has the power to change people's lives and make them a better version of themselves every day.

Coach Carter is that kind of engaging and powerful movie that has the power to draw viewers' attention with a real-life and conflict-driven drama that every human being may have to face (especially those that belong to a poorer layer of society, which usually doesn't have a good future perspective in their lives).