Bibliographic Information:
Director: Boaz Yakin
Release Date: September 23, 2000
Actors: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Donald Faizon, Nicole Ari Parker, Wood Harris
Box Office: $136.7 million
Featured Song: Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
Genre: Biographical Sports Drama
Summary: The movie begins with a group of former football players attending a funeral in 1981. Then the movie travels back in time to the desegregated school of T. C. Williams High School in 1971 in Alexandria Virginia. Herman Boone, an African American man, (who is played by Denzel Washington) is hired to assist with coaching the football team underneath the current coach, who happens to be white: Bill Yoast. However an interesting twist happens when Herman is made to be the head coach with Bill Yoast planning to take another assistant coaching job rather than work underneath Herman. Yoast’s football players who he has been training for years, threaten to boycott the team if he isn’t their coach. Bill changes his mind and takes a position of defensive coordinator underneath Herman. There are still a lot of racial tensions in the air due to the fact that not everyone is happy about the desegregation decision. Bringing the players together so that they can stop seeing just Black and White and see themselves as a team, isn’t an easy task. Herman has two major challenges that he has to face in the movie: command the respect of his entire team white and black (with Bill included), and win each and every game otherwise he will lose his position. Will Herman be able to rise to the occasion?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remember_the_Titans
Critical Evaluation: This movie is absolutely amazing, and one of my all-time favorite movies. I love that this movie is based off a true story. The characters in this movie were extremely well developed. For example Herman Boone is a dedicated family man, but at school or on the football field he is all business. His no nonsense attitude is a little off putting for the African American players because they thought that since he was a “brother”, that he would allow them some sort of special treatment. They were very wrong, and if anything he was harder on them than the white player, but at the same time treated everyone equally. I appreciated the fact that he was strict, with such high expectations for his players Black and White alike. By being harder on the African American players, he was preparing them for the real world. I loved that Denzel’s performance was everything but stereotypical no matter what anyone else said about him. One example of that was when a coach on the opposing team called him a monkey. Once the titans had won the game when it was time for the coaches to shake hands Herman threw the opposing coach a banana! I appreciated Bill’s character also how he started off being racist, and assuming that he knew more than Herman, but as time goes on he grows to like and respect Herman. When the referees were making unfair calls in order for the team to lose the game to get Herman to lose his job, Bill stood up to them and made them stop. I loved that he did this even though he knew it was going to cost him the hall of fame. This movie is thought provoking, funny, sad, heartwarming and everything in between.
Reader’s Annotation: N/a
Director Information: Boaz Yakin: Boaz Yakin has been in the entertainment field ever since 1989. He took film making studies at the New York City College, and after he graduated he worked for serval companies on film making projects. It was in 1989 that he released his first screenplay The Punisher. Boaz would go on to make his director debut for the movie Fresh, which he wrote as well. Directing Remember the Titans was a great move for his career.
Remember the Titans did extremely well at the box office, and this particular win for him moved him up higher in Hollywood. In 2015, Boaz wrote, directed, and produced the movie Max. In addition to being a director, he was also present at the 2009 Sun Dance Film Festival as a member of the Dramatic Jury. Boaz isn’t limited to only writing, and directing, he made an appearance on the Max movie as well.
https://marriedbiography.com/boaz-yakin-biography/
Genre: Biographical Sports Drama
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Book Talk Ideas: N/a
Interest Age: 10 and up
Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation:
Challenge Issues: Racism; Strong Content;
Common Sense Media Review: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/remember-the-titans
Review: https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/2388/remember-the-titans
Review: https://dove.org/review/3102-remember-the-titans/
Why Included: Remember the Titans demonstrates that anyone can overcome hatred and bigotry. It teaches the lesson to be yourself no matter what people may say. Instead of trying to argue or get even, it is even more important to let your truth and hard work speak for itself. Nothing is impossible, and you can do anything that you set your mind to. This movie is filled with so many positive life lessons, and if a teen hasn’t seen this movie, then they are missing out.
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