SNMR 7.6: "We Are Marshall"

GREEN'S "UP FROM THE ASHES THEY AROSE" REVIEW:

For most of us, November 14, 1970 was just another day. I personally was almost 17.... months old and remember it not at all. But if you lived in football crazy Huntington, West Virginia at that time, it's a day you'll never forget. That's the day Southern Airlines flight 932 crashed, killing all 75 people on board. Most of those people were part of the Marshall University football team. This film is about the rebirth of that school's football program and the restoration of the essence of a close-knit community racked by tragedy. The story centers around Jack Lengyel, a young football coach hired to restart the football program and begin the healing process. Lengyel's young team only won two games in 1971 and Lengyel only won nine games total as Marshall's coach from 1971-1974. However, Lengyel's legacy will forever be remembered at Marshall University, which has since become a highly successful college football program.

Matthew McConaughey is a very good, versatile actor and has proven to be able to handle dramatic as well as comedic roles. His performance in this film is necessarily solemn and reserved, due to the film's subject matter, yet very inspiring. The rest of the cast is good, though no one is outstanding. McG does an excellent job directing this movie, keeping the story moving without getting bogged down, which could have easily been the case. This is a movie that offers a nice tribute to those people that died in the crash and bringing awareness to an event that, for many outside of West Virginia, has long since been forgotten. The success of the Marshall University football program in the last 15 years has almost certainly eased the pain.

If you haven't seen this movie, I heartily recommend it.

**** out of *****

We Are Marshall (2006, PG, 131 minutes), starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, Kate Mara, January Jones and Kimberly Williams-Paisley. The film was written by Cory Helms and Jamie Linden and directed by McG.