Directed by: Niki Caro
Cast: Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Carlos Pratts, Morgan Saylor, Martha Higareda, Valente Rodriguez, Vanessa Martinez, Chris Ellis, Johnny Ortiz, Hector Duran, Sergio Avelar, Michael Aguero, Rafael Martinez and Ramiro Rodriguez
I love a good underdog story. Also like a great sports story. If you combine the two and base it on true events I like it even better. My old high school History teacher taught me to understand and appreciate that the tales of the past were tales of real people who really existed and actually went through the things they did. That’s the case with “McFarland USA”.
This film is fascinating on several levels. It depicts life in the most financially depressed town in America, it throws a middle class family into the center of it with no knowledge of its people or customs or even the food, it touches on fear and preconceived beliefs and expectations, talks to the social issues facing Latinos of the 1980’s, and it follows the struggle of a group of young disadvantaged boys with no future as they strive to attain a huge goal they don’t believe possible. It is indeed the stuff of legends.
Here’s the storyline:
The year is 1987, Jim White (Costner) loses his job as football coach at a respected middle class Midwest high school, when he loses his temper and throws a shoe at one of his players. It’s not the first time. The only job he can find is at a high school in the small Central Valley farming town of McFarland, California. So, he ups and moves his wife (Bello) and two daughters cross-country to a place as foreign to them as the moon. Only third and fourth generation Mexican fruit and vegetable field pickers and their families inhabit the town. As the White family struggles to understand and integrate into this new environment, Jim notices that some of the boys attending school have an especially gifted ability at running. With no help or encouragement he sets out to create the school’s first competitive long distance running team.
Costner, whose film choices lately have been less than sterling, finally finds a role that fits him to a tee. His vulnerable and downtrodden performance is the perfect foil for the young Latino cast to interface with. Bello, as the supportive wife who shouldn’t be, pulls off another great underplayed performance. She’s such an under appreciated actress who is just never bad.
Then you have the wonderful Latino cast. I don’t know where director Niki Caro found them but uniformly, from the boys to their families, the performances are terrific all the way around, and so compellingly portrayed that you just can’t stop watching them.
My take on the film: It’s an uplifting ‘true story’ feel good film with a Latino twist that deserves to be seen. If you choose to see it in the theaters or later on your TV, don’t let this one get away from you. You won’t be disappointed.
