Four stars. Rated PG, for mild dramatic intensity
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 2.20.15
For crowd-pleasing cinema, it’s
hard to beat an inspirational underdog sports saga.
Particularly one that’s true.
(Well, mostly.)
 |
| After yet another frustrating argument at home, the forlorn Thomas (Carlos Pratts, right) briefly contemplates an extremely foolish way out of his miserable life. Cue the well-timed arrival of Coach Jim White (Kevin Costner), whose calm and inspirational pep talk is the stuff of which great underdog sports flicks are made. |
Director Niki Caro and the team
behind McFarland USA have the formula down cold, with an engaging blend of
character drama, cross-cultural tension and stirring competition. Caro is
blessed with an eye and ear for the plight of disenfranchised people who
sometimes feel like strangers in their own country; she’s the New Zealand-based
filmmaker who came to our attention with 2002’s stirring Whale Rider, and
followed up with the equally compelling North Country.
Both those films concerned women
stymied in their efforts to succeed on their own terms, and forced to battle
long-established conventions steeped in predominantly male cultures.
McFarland USA trades gender
wars for a gentle analysis of the class structure that exists in this country,
and the cynical hopelessness endured by those who live on the wrong side of
that divide. Caro and her writers — Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois and
Grant Thompson — are smart enough to eschew strident sermons, recognizing that
the lessons here will go down more smoothly in an environment of optimism and
compassion.
On top of which, the story
cleverly rotates the social barrier, by making its central character and his
family — products of so-called privileged society — the “outsiders” in an
environment that feels completely alien, and has its own longstanding rules of
behavior and attitude.
High school football coach Jim
White (Kevin Costner) has a history of anger-management issues. Bounced from
one school to another, acquiring a dismal reputation along the way, in the
autumn of 1987 he bottoms out in California’s San Joaquin Valley agricultural
community of McFarland. As he and his family — wife Cheryl (Maria Bello) and
daughters Julie (Morgan Saylor) and Jamie (Elsie Fisher) — drive slowly through
town, searching for their new home, the latter curiously asks, “Are we in
Mexico?”
It’s a brave opening gambit,
because the movie succeeds or fails right there: The slightest whiff of
censure, disapproval or arrogance, and the story slides into uncomfortably
racist territory. But Caro understands the peril involved, and she draws just
the right line reading from young Fisher.
The moment passes safely, but is
followed by several more; we still unconsciously hold our breath. The living
room of the Whites’ new home is dominated by an overpowering image painted
directly onto the wall. The elderly woman next door presents them with a “new
neighbor” gift: a chicken. The local car culture roars past the house late into
each night; roosters blast them out of bed each dawn.
