Credit: www.impawards.com
Director:
McG
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey”¦”¦”¦.Jack Lengyel
Matthew Fox”¦”¦”¦.Red Dawson
Ian McShane”¦”¦”¦.Paul Griffen
David Strathairn”¦”¦”¦.President Donald Dedmon
Anthony Mackie”¦”¦”¦.Nate Ruffin
Kate Mara”¦”¦”¦.Annie Cantrell
January Jones”¦”¦”¦.Carol Dawson
Kimberly Williams-Paisley”¦”¦”¦.Sandy Lengyel
Warner Bros. Pictures presents We Are Marshall. Written by Jamie Linden. Story by Linden and Cory Helms. Rated PG (for emotional thematic material, a crash scene, and mild language). Running time: 127 minutes.
We Are Marshall is not a sports movie. The ad geniuses behind the promotional campaign may emphasize the action on the football field, but this is not a sports movie. It is a drama about the lingering effects an unforeseen tragedy has on a small West Virginia town. At approximately 7:37 p.m. on Saturday, November 14, 1970, a chartered plane crashed into a hillside, two miles before it should have descended at Huntington’s Tri-State Airport. On board were 37 football players of Marshall University’s Thundering Herd, twelve coaches and staff members, the flight crew, and 21 townspeople and boosters. There were no survivors.
This event is the crux of the film, as its importance weighs heavily, not just the surviving families of those who perished but the town of Huntington as a whole. Through interactions we see a community that becomes shell-shocked. Gone is the clanking of coffee cups and silverware on linoleum countertops of a local diner. Healthy conversations and local gossip amongst the townsfolk have been reduced to passing glances and murmurs of “what happens now?”
There is a quiet dissonance on whether or not Marshall should have a football program after the tragic events of that fateful Saturday. For some, each Saturday and the pigskin classic would be a constant reminder of the crash. Others view it as an opportunity — an opportunity to rise from the ashes and embrace the living spirit of the Thundering Herd.
It’s one thing to see how a team wins during crunch time; it’s something entirely different to witness the process it takes to get there. For college athletics it can take years to develop a competitive team. Marshall University only had a few months to acquire a coaching staff, recruit players, some of which had never played football before, and develop a play scheme. The university was also at the disadvantage of a NCAA rule that prohibits freshman from starting in Division I-AA football. Through letters and a last straw face-to-face President Donald Dedmon (as portrayed by David Strathairn in the film), leeway was given and Marshall became the first college to have freshman starting on both sides of the ball.
While a feat in itself, the President had to be inspired by the man he hired as head coach, Jack Lengyel. Matthew McConaughey gives a surprising performance as Lengyel, a man who had no ties to Marshall, but gave up his cushy coaching job in Worchester, Mass. and came to West Virginia.
Judging by his resume McConaughey seems an unlikely candidate to play Lengyel. It is that sort of intrigue that makes We Are Marshall worth watching. Who knew McConaughey was more than a pretty face?
After being discovered in Richard Linklate’s stoner comedy Dazed and Confused, he had a choice, star-making role in A Time to Kill. Floundering a bit thereafter, of late he has become to go to guy for romantic comedies. Being a graduate of the University of Texas, and good friends with head football coach Mack Brown, I can see where McConaughey learned to walk and talk like a coach. His swagger and accent could be misconstrued as a Mack Brown in training. His character is a family man with a loving wife and a bunch of rugrats. Lengyel may not have been directly affected by the events of that foggy night, but he was affected nonetheless. And it is his sympathy and conviction that wins over the town of Huntington.
Matthew Fox (TV’s Lost) plays assistant coach Red Dawson. On the night of the flight, he relinquished his seat so that one of the team’s recruiters could go home and see his granddaughte’s music recital. Dawson would stay and meet with a potential player for next yea’s team. Stopping for gas, the breaking news bulletin on the radio leaves him gasping. As one of men who recruited many of the players on the flight, he took the tragedy hard. Having promised the parents that he would let nothing happen to their sons, the aftereffects have Dawson battling with himself for not living up to his end of the deal.
Fox’s performance is the more unobtrusive of the two, but that is to be expected from a character that was closely involved with the Fighting Herd. Together, he and McConaughey are a nice balance. One is trying to find redemption in himself for what occurred, while the other is attempting to show that after such tragedy, continuing the football program is an important stepping stone in lessening a community’s grief.
The film’s director McG, like McConaughey, is another unlikely choice for this film. Having sat behind the camera for several music videos and the popcorn distraction that was Charlie’s Angels, McG forgoes making another hyperkinetic, special effects driven, leave-your-brain-at-the-door flick and does drama. Doesn’t make sense. Nevertheless, he and the cast and crew didn’t see this as a football movie. They instead found relationship with the human element. Rarely are we given a film that explores how one tragedy can affect a community. Of course, this exploration covers ground we have seen before — pulling at our heartstrings — but it is pleasing experience. And that’s what you will expect after viewing We Are Marshall.
