Apparently, the New Orleans City Commerce collected money to put together a movie. This movie featured one of the most openly selfish coaches I've ever seen on film as the protagonist. After hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the entire city was underwater, all this coach could think about was getting his basketball team on the court again. Nevermind that they had no homes, no food, and no school; to Coach Al Collins (played by Forest Whitaker) basketball was the most important thing in the world.
At one point Coach Al tried to shame his best player out of transferring to a better school where he'd have a better opportunity to get recruited. He tried to persuade the boy's father by using lines like, "Is that what you want to teach your son, to run when things get tough?" as if pursuing a scholarship to college was some how less noble than playing basketball for him.
After failing at that weak Jedi mind trick he went to another player and shamed him by saying "Don't take the easy way out," and other lame lines as though leaving was a shameful thing. I wonder about all of those people who relocated and what message this movie is sending to them? You guys are soft. You're traitors. You're weak.
This whole movie was a sham. It was yet another movie showing that the only way out of a bad situation for young Black men is sports. But it wasn't just that. This movie barely showed the deplorable state of things in New Orleans. It was as if as long as there was Patriots basketball then everything was right with New Orleans.
This was no "Coach Carter," or "Glory Road" for that matter, even though it featured angry players and a yelling coach. This movie resembled your traditional against-all-odds sports movie, but it was only a superficial resemblance. Where it counted this movie was vacant. I don't want to make it seem like I'm denigrating the team, or the city of New Orleans by extension (maybe Coach Al a bit), but this movie was just a carbon copy of sports movies past.
