Undefeated

I saw this the first time it was available in LA during the Oscar qualifying period. This film is a true accomplishment and one of the strongest contenders in the field. I was moved to tears on a number of occasions. The struggles of the players and coach Bill resonated with alarming clarity.

Some people could compare it to THE BLIND SIDE, which I also enjoyed. I feel as though this film tells an even larger story in the same amount of time -- something you can get away with more often in documentary, I suppose. However, I often forgot that I was watching a documentary, because the things these filmmakers were able to capture created a remarkable sense of flow.

This is one of those films I recommend to everyone.

Great movie worth seeing. The overall rating is far too low for this movie- don't be discouraged from seeing it.

Life isn't easy and some kids learn this from their earliest days. 'Undefeated' gives us heart that some will escape the hard life of poverty they have been dealt. One coach steps in to try his best to do his part to help but the job is tough and full of harsh realities... not everything has a storybook ending in this movie or in real life. Still the movie has plenty of feel good moments, moments when you hope the kids are starting to see the light of their own potential both on and off the field.

Have your teenagers and college kids see this movie. They'll appreciate you and what they have been blessed with a little more because of what they see others go through in this documentary.

Oscar-award winning documentary "Undefeated" maximizes it out-take from being at the right place at the right time. The movies focuses its attention on a failing high-school American football team Manassas Tigers in Memphis, Tennessee, yet to ever win a play-off game in the rich 110 years of existence. The Manassas high-school is located in an all-black neighborhood suffering from extreme unemployment rates after the closure of the local Bridgestone plant. Most children lack parental guidance, whilst being raised by grandmothers or single parents is an all-too-familiar sight. In one reveal almost everyone in the team has close relatives convicted of various sorts of crimes with some of the most aggressive youths, like Chavis Daniels, already having spent time in correctional facilities. Into this backdrop of dire hopelessness comes Bill Courtney, a successful businessman, whose true calling and passion is coaching football teams. Having offered six years of his time on pro-bono formation of Manassas Tigers, this year is supposed to be his swansong. His key weapon is the brute force of O.C. Brown, the most talented player on the team, however his educational struggles pose question as to whether he will be able to continue to college with his education. Meanwhile miniscule right-back Montrail 'Money' Brown, a well-versed and perspective youth, hopes to finish his career in football (as being too small to succeed in pro gaming) on a high. Will the school be able to break the 110 year play-off jinx?

Molded into the all too familiar underdog sports story of a team of misfits conquering the odds, it is easy to understand the Academy's decision. Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin spent a significant amount of time filming the ordeals of Bill Courtney and his challenged youth team, capturing a spectacular moment in time, when the group turn from perennial whooping boys into the dominant regional outfit with a knack for big comebacks.

Given this extraordinary backdrop the film directors come off with rich material to form a documentary. Even though the ease in which the story fits the mold of narrative genre films feels somewhat suspect and forced at times, the viewing is really pleasurable. Plus, despite everything else you know this is real life and although the directors hint at outcomes along the way, you never truly know what will happen, giving it a unique, engaging quality, so desperately lacking in features. Full of heart, passion and a hopeful outlook this really does seem like the kind of stuff the Academy would go for. Worthwhile watch, even if the year in question had superior documentaries to choose from.

Sometimes you start a project with a different goal than it eventually ends up to. The filmmakers hit the Jackpot in more than one sense here. On the other hand winning the Oscar might have raised the bar/expectations from people who might have watched this as a normal documentary and therefor might have liked it more.

This documentary sometimes might feel like it lacks the drive Hollywood movies have. But that is because it is real and because everything you see in here is what happened. It still is dramatized, but not to the extent you see in the movies. You also shouldn't forget, that those are not actors, but real people (and please don't confuse real people with "reality TV") doing their thing. The camera is not distracting and the tension is felt throughout.

One really good sport documentary

I should probably begin by apologizing-- calling this a "football movie" is a bit demeaning. Superficially, it's accurate, but the true subject of "Undefeated" is the education of inner-city kids through the competition of sports. If you value the lessons team sports can teach, or if you care about kids trying to pull themselves up from desperate circumstances, then I have to believe this is a film you want to see.

I had the privilege of seeing it a couple of months ago at the Chicago International Film Festival, with an audience that I'd wager was comprised mostly of people who didn't grow up in violent inner-city neighborhoods, and there were scenes in this film that reduced many of us in that audience to tears. These weren't tears of self-serving pity, either, but of admiration at what the Manassas Tigers accomplished in this wonder of a season. The film follows the storytelling tradition of the championship season, for the most part, but it's tough to criticize a documentary film for adherence to cliché. In fact, there are scenes in this that you'd dismiss as improbable in a fiction film, and scenes of such close personal observation that you wonder how the filmmakers got them on camera. These filmmakers had astonishing access to coach Bill Courtney and his players O.C. Brown, Montrail "Money" Brown, and the remarkable Chavis Daniels. You will get to know them so well over the course of the film that you might hope for a sequel. I know I do.

My only criticism of the film may not strike you as criticism at all-- in the Q&A session I attended with the filmmakers, they said they cut over an hour of footage to get the film's running time down for the theatrical market. As enthralled as I was with this film, I gladly would have watched another hour-- I wanted to meet more of these players and learn more about their lives. As such, at this length, the film doesn't quite rise to the level of "Hoop Dreams," as that film masterfully integrated its focus on sports into a larger narrative of inner-city life. But "Undefeated" comes awfully close, especially in one of the most moving scenes I've ever seen in a documentary, when a kid gets a piece of news that will change his life forever. You want to see this scene. You want to see this film.