McFarland, USA Movie Blurb by Shale February 21, 2015 This is one of those feel-good, underdog triumphs, based on a true story, Disney PG-rated movies that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is the story of how a very small and impoverished agricultural town in California, with a mostly Mexican-American population working the fields managed to have a high school Cross Country track team win the state championship in 1987. The movie starts with high school football Coach Jim White (Kevin Costner) getting canned from his cushy job because of an altercation with a mouthy player in the locker room. About the only place where he could get a job after that was in McFarland as an assistant coach so the white family packs up and heads to an alien environment. Yeah, he and his blond wife Cheryl (Maria Bello), blond daughters Jamie (Elsie Fisher) and Julie (Morgan Saylor) are the aliens in McFarland and a bit apprehensive at first. But this is a Disney movie, you know they will meet gracious neighbors and become a part of this community, tho the kids in his class will call him "blanco" for a while as a joke. Actually, his 15-year-old daughter Julie meets and is enamored of one very charming black haired boy Thomas Valles (Carlos Pratts). Thomas & Julie Meet in School Assistant Coach White gets into a disagreement with the head coach when he prevents him putting a kid back on the field who might have gotten a concussion on the last play. The principal knows the other coach is a jerk so he just moves Coach White to the regular gym classes. That is where he notices that some of the boys can really run fast and far. He convinces the principal to let him form a Cross Country Track Team, despite his never running himself or teaching track - perfect for the job. He ends up getting a seven boy team that includes the three Diaz brothers, one of whom Danny (Ramiro Rodriguez), is obviously too fat to be a runner. Whole Team Practicing in Grove One of the problems is that all these kids work the fields with their families in addition to attending school. The practice on the team just adds to their very long day. Coach White goes out in the fields with them one day and discovers just how hard these kids work and this was suggested as the reason these boys went on to do so well in a competitive sport that was never a part of their lives. Coach Working the Fields With the Boys Thomas, who is reluctant to join the team because of some issues at home is the best runner and there are a few dramatic scenes about him and his problems. But when they start seeing success in their competitions, which means a chance at being the first in their families to go on to college, the families and the whole town gets a sense of pride in the accomplishment. Thomas & Coach Before the usual negative activists without causes start attacking this movie because it is ANOTHER "White Savior" tale, let me mention again, it is a true story, and Coach White was white. Sorry but no apologies here. Another reviewer, Bilge Ebiri with New York Magazine/Vulture said it best: "This movie should be terrible — a predictable White Savior flick about a pasty, middle-aged guy teaching life lessons to a group of Mexican-American kids who don’t know better. And yet, it isn’t. Though the film is told largely from the perspective of Jim, it’s filled with a genuine sense of community." At the end of the movie, they showed the real team members and their history after graduating college.
