McFarland, USA

            I came across McFarland, USA on TV one night.  It seemed interesting, but unfortunately, it was on late and I needed to go to bed.  I only got to watch part of the film.  So, I got it from the library.  I’m glad I did instead of leaving things where I had left off, because it was a really good film.  

                Jim White (Kevin Costner) is a disgraced football coach.  He lost his job after throwing a shoe at a student and accidentally cutting the boy’s face.  Now, no one will hire him.  The only option White and his family have is to move to McFarland, California.  There he will work at the local high school and live in a community that is mostly Latino, something he and his family are definitely not used to.

                Working at the school is a great adjustment for White.  In all honesty, he is not happy to be there and is not overly interested in anything that is happening.  Very quickly White manages to get himself fired as the assistant football coach.  This time it is because he did take an interest.  He saw that one of the football players should not be going on the field, and instead of following the coach’s orders, White kept the player off.  Now all White has is his education class (I believe it is Health) and his Physical Education class to look forward to.

                Then White sees one his students, Thomas Valles (Carlos Pratts), running after school so he can get to work in the fields.  White times him during this run, then times the students in his gym class.  Once White sees how fast these boys can run, he decides to put together a cross country team.  To get members, White catches these boys doing something wrong.  He then has them join the cross country team to stay out of trouble.

                Even after dealing with the reluctance of the students to join the team, there are difficulties White needs to figure out how to overcome.  First there is finding a time to practice.  These students must work in the fields to help their families.  Then, even after they do have time to practice, they must figure out how to beat the other schools.  These boys may be fast, but running cross country is different than just running.  This is obvious when the team comes in last at their first meet.  White may have been training these boys on their running, but he hadn’t been training them on how to run up hills.  There are definitely some things they are going to have to work on if this team is going to be a success.

                That first meet was a huge learning experience for White.  He puts new training practices in place, greatly improving the team’s skills and abilities.  As the team does better and better, the community unites around them.  They support the students all the way to the State Championships, where they can test all their hard work against the best in the state once and for all.

                While White works with the cross country team, he and his family become more involved with the community.  They even help White put a quinceañera together when he forgets his daughter’s, Julie (Morgan Saylor), birthday.  Then, when Julie and the team find themselves in danger, the entire team surrounds Julie to keep her protected.  It is an act that helps White decide whether he wants to stay in McFarland or not.

                Hearing about how the team protected Julie is one of my favorite parts of the film.  I also liked the gentle ribbing the boys gave White, especially when he was riding a girls’ bike as they ran.  Then, there was the scene where White worked in the migrant agricultural fields alongside the boys, just so he could understand what they were going through.  It was all these acts that really brought White, the team, and the community together, even though some were resistant for that to happen.

                One character that I think deserves special attention is Señora Diaz (Diana Maria Riva).  She is the mother of the Diaz brothers; David (Rafael Martinez), Danny (Ramiro Rodriguez), and Damacio (Michael Aguero).  Señora Diaz was a fantastic character, who did not take guff from anyone, and was funny while she did it.  Nobody could outdo her.  Not the coach, and certainly not her own boys.  What she said, went.  Señora Diaz was definitely not someone to mess with.

                Since McFarland, USA was based on a true story, I was happy to see what happened to the people in real life noted in the end.  So many of them, if not all, came back to the area to make a difference.  No matter where they went, they came back to help others.  That was an incredible thing to see.