McFarland, USA
Dir: Niki Caro
Starring: Kevin Costner, Carlos Pratts, Maria Bello, Ramiro
Rodriguez, Johnny Ortiz, Rafael Martinez, Hector Duran, Sergio Avelar, Elsie
Fisher, and Morgan Saylor
Rated PG
128 Minutes
How do you make a cross-country running film interesting?
You hire an accomplished director and utilize Disney’s tried and true sports
movie formula. Get a group of underdogs, add insurmountable odds, base it on
true events and that’s the groundwork for this successful formula. “Glory
Road”, “Miracle”, and “Remember the Titans” are just a few of the sports movies
viewers still mention when listing their favorite sport themed films. It’s not
a complicated form by any means but this structure works by combining heartfelt
and uplifting sentiments. Director Niki Caro utilizes culture to assist in
establishing the dynamic between the characters and the society that defines
them. Though more could have been done
with this topic it doesn’t hinder “McFarland, USA” from being an enjoyably
simplistic film.
Coach Jim White is moving his family to a small California
community after an altercation with a player during a football game that lead
to his dismissal. Desperate for teachers, McFarland High School hires White, or
“Blanco” as his predominantly Hispanic students refer to him, for a staff position.
White and his family are greeted with open arms in the community, though it is
a bit of a culture shock for them. White notices that the students work hard,
most of them assisting the family in the picking fields, and run everywhere
they go. White proposes that the school start a cross county team, a first of
its kind in 1987.
A mountain, an early adversary for these young runners,
plays an obvious metaphor. Whether the conflict of being more than a field
worker or understanding the conflicts of a broken home, nothing comes easy for
these young men and Coach White recognizes this early on. Though the community
of McFarland is poor they are also rich in heart, taking pride in important matters
like family and community. Director Niki Caro understands these bonds and
utilizes them within the primary physical attribute of the sport they are
participating in, which is ultimately endurance. These young men understand
this situation, some even becoming complaisant with the life being shaped
without their input, but they endure for more than themselves. They endure for
their family. And when they become a team, they endure for each other. Till
finally, during the course of the race, the runners recognize they must endure
for themselves. It’s a simple narrative device that Caro implements and for the
most part it works effectively. However, there are other aspects to this story
that are underutilized. Violence exists for a brief moment in only one scene
and any approach to a realistic understanding of the world these kids grow up
in is left in the background, but that’s another movie completely.
Kevin Costner has always been good as the surly sympathetic
kind, here providing the brash speeches of tough love while quietly exhibiting
the caring side of his personality. Costner is always good at making everyone
better as well. Scenes with the young cast, especially Carlos Pratts who is the
most dramatic character of the young actors, are assisted by Costner’s skill
but each of the actors fit their specific roles with ease.
“McFarland, USA” aims to present a series of uplifting
moments with just enough surface level complications to make the journey
meaningful. Any exploration of deeper correlations within the characters and
the society and culture they are living in are relegated to supportive
attributes. This film simply aims at being a purely entertaining sports movie,
to which it succeeds.
Monte’s Rating
3.50 out of 5.00
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