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The African American students and their community were just as opposed to the move as the white students and their community. In everyone's eyes, this was an unwanted and impossible merger. Even more flammable was the decision to bring in Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), an African-American coach from South Carolina, to replace the school's popular white coach, Bill Yoast (Bill Patton). Players, parents and community leaders were just waiting for him to fail. Boone is not a typical movie sports hero. He was a tyrant who ran his practices like a drill sergeant. What Boone discovers when he arrives is that though the players are on the same team, they remain segregated in spirit. Boone's greatest accomplishment is he showed the men how to look beyond colour. He did this when he took them off to training camp and billeted them together. Watching the players shed their biases is inspirational and often humorous -- even if it is blatant manipulation. Director Boaz Yakin hammers home the message, but it's with a velvet hammer. He tugs relentlessly at the heartstrings, but it's a tune worth humming. What was accomplished in Alexandria should be a model for every community divided by racial, sexual or cultural biases. Washington is an accomplished chameleon. He really does inhabit Boone. There is the abrasive edge that masks the man's love of football and of humanity. This is not as showy a performance as Washington's Malcolm X or Hurricane Carter, but it is no less poignant and insightful. Once again, Washington has found the soul of his character and the means to wear it on his shoulder so the audience can see it as well. Patton is a strong foil, but this is not his movie and he wisely and graciously gives the spotlight to Washington. Gregory Allen Howard's screenplay wisely avoids making Remember the Titans a one-man show. He has written some exceptional characters for the younger actors. As the leaders of the opposing racial camps, Wood Harris and Ryan Hurst show that their distrust of one another was as deep-rooted as their eventual friendship. Remember the Titans is set on the gridiron and the locker room, but these are metaphors for the playing field of life. The Williams High Titans were winners not because they brought home a trophy, but because they trampled age-old prejudices.
(This film is rated PG)
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