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We Are Marshall By Harry Forbes Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) -- "We Are Marshall" (Warner Bros.) is the moving true-life story about the aftermath of a 1970 plane crash in West Virginia, which killed 70 players, coaches and fans of a college football team, and how the grieving university town came to recover its spirit. This came about largely by the formation of a largely new team -- the Thundering Herd -- galvanized by the leadership of Jack Lengyel (a dynamic Matthew McConaughey), a new coach from Wooster, Ohio. He's hired by Marshall University president Donald Dedmon (David Strathairn), who's persuaded to fill the position after some surviving team members, especially varsity player Nate Ruffin (Anthony Mackie), poignantly demonstrate that the football program must be continued. Once Jack is on board, he reaches out to the former team's assistant coach, Red Dawson (Matthew Fox), who like several others carries enormous guilt because he narrowly missed being on the fatal flight himself. Director McG's (actually Joseph McGinty Nichol) film, though to some extent formulaic and predictable, rates as more than several notches above average in showing how the tragedy affected the townspeople in many different ways, while Jamie Linden's script tries hard to avoid cliche. There are solid performances -- including Ian McShane as Paul Griffen, a grieving father who opposes the new team's formation -- and worthy messages about winning not being everything, accepting loss, and learning how to heal, with several references showing directly and indirectly that this was a faith-based community. The film contains several uses of the s-word as favored by the coach, a few other crass expressions, and discreetly handled plane crash. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG -- parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. - - - Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies. END Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed. CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250 |
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