Limitations can sometimes hold people back from doing what they want and what they feel is right. Limitations can hold people down and cause them to quit striving for what they believe in.
But sometimes limitations can be surpassed, bonds can be broken and history can be made.
And it’s everyone’s job to remember this.
In Alexandria, Va., in 1971, diversity is a limitation, race is a problem and color divides a team. And in what hopefully will be the year’s best movie, an unforgettable story is told.
Starring Denzel Washington (“The Siege,” “The Hurricane”) and Will Patton (“Gone in Sixty Seconds,” “Armageddon”), Boaz Yakin’s “Remember the Titans” presents the awe-inspiring tale of the T.C. Williams High School football team with just as much heart and ambition as the original squad must have had.
The story, which is based on true events and written by Gregory Allen Howard, stays true to the history written by the winners.
It all starts with an event that rocked many schools across the country in the 1970s: Racial integration. Law forces the school board to integrate an all-black school into the all-white foundation of T.C. Williams High.
Hate causes violence and threatens the very makeup of the school and the town. But luckily, nothing major staggers the rising foundation at the school.
Students are not the only ones added to the school. Brought up from South Carolina is black football coach Herman Boone (Washington), who replaces the legendary coach Bill Yoast (Patton) and starts a major part of the heated controversy that sparks many ill feelings in the town.
Besides race, Boone is different from Yoast in that his coaching style is much more rough-and-tumble.
The more subtle Yoast had coached at T.C. Williams for several years and had earned the respect of the team and its supporters. He was even up for a nomination to the Virginia High School Coaches Hall of Fame.
Just weeks before the start of the season, the team is divided. Players voluntarily segregate themselves, coaches try to get along with clenched fists and tight jaws and even the town looking on with hope and pride threatens to split right down the middle.
The team lacks the will to win, respect and trust. They are not even a team; everyone is out for themselves. So it is up to “big, bad” Boone to straighten them out using his tough-natured coaching tactics and treating everyone equally.
Training camp ensues and by the end of the two-week session, set appropriately in Gettysburg, the team is whole, but still not flawless. Some bad apples still spoil the batch.
From this, the story unfolds.
Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (“Gone in Sixty Seconds,” “Armageddon”), this movie never fumbles. It has every virtue a film needs to be great.
Washington, coming off his Oscar-worthy performance in “The Hurricane,” gives yet another award-winner. After spending time with the now-retired Herman Boone to prepare for the role, he gives a powerful performance on screen.
As for Patton, who finished making “Gone in Sixty Seconds” one day before he started shooting this film, he gives his usual performance - a great one.
And every performance is outstanding. From 9-year-old Hayden Panettiere (“Dinosaur,” “The Object of My Affection”) as Yoast’s strong-hearted, football-loving daughter Sheryl to Ryan Hurst (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Patch Adams”) as team captain Gerry Berteir, it seems like they all play their hearts out for team - the production team that is.
“Remember the Titans” has it all. And, if all works out in the box office and it gets everything it deserves, this film will always be remembered.
