Before we begin, there are a few things that must be clarified. Firstly, it must be made clear that this isn't the kind of place where you can expect to read detailed layouts of places or word-based blueprints of cities. This is also not the place for repentance, regret or feelings unrequited.
What you can, however, expect to read on The View From Beneath Your Skin are my views, rants and opinions on several matters that interest, entertain or affect me. They do not represent the truth in terms of your truth, his truth or her truth. It is more a case of it being MY truth. If you choose to agree with me, great! If you don't, even better!! But do tell me why.
Now that that little rant is out of the way, it's time to examine a topic fairly dear to my heart. Sports movies, to me, represent everything that is pure, good and wholesome in the world of cinema. Now whether that's Bobby Boucher (The Waterboy) racking up a last second touchdown or Michael Jordan (Space Jam) netting an 11th hour slam dunk or Bhuvan (Lagaan) cracking a huge six off the last ball, there is no doubting the power of these films. Infusing hope, belief and an allround feeling of warm fuzziness inside is what these films do and they do it well. Very well...
Of course, there's no doubting the formulaic and almost contrived nature of these sagas. Misfit team contains problematic people. Problematic people have problems and conflict between them. They are brought together by the unifying power of the desire to play as a team, to play well and ultimately, to win. Often, this occurs in the face of insurmountable odds, in the face of being crushed by the opposition, being humiliated by them and eventually, ending up as losers. Situation usually comes to a climax in the final game of the season, after the losing streak was halted by an inspired coach, who came up with that one amazing speech, which gave the team everything they needed to hear.
A quick montage shows us just how well the training picked up after the inspiring speeches. Try any of the Mighty Ducks movies, Rocky movies or for that matter, H-E Double Hockeysticks.
SLIGHT DETOUR - On the topic of inspiring speeches, nothing beats Bill Pullman's little "..We are going to live on.. we are going to survive.. today.. we celebrate.. our Independence Day!!" speech, despite ID4 not really being what one could describe with any degree of accuracy as a sports movie. Still, good speech is good speech. And now, on with the show...
So the montage shows just how effective the coach was and then the team plays their final match and come half-time, they're on the receiving end of a potential annihilation. Enter coach and inspirational "Do it for the Gipper" or "Be proud of your achievements" or " Be perfect and be a good human being and have a great time" speech results. Players leave the dressing room misty eyed and roar onto the field and whaddaya know? The team is re-energised and all of a sudden, they're playing a hell of a game and find themselves back in it, amid a montage of scoring shots (goals, baskets, touchdowns, tries, wickets, runs etc etc).
And then!!! Scores are level, with only seven seconds to play and the coach has to devise a new strategy and so he inevitably pulls out some old strategy he came up with aeons ago (Iqbal anyone?) . And once again, surprise surprise, at the final second, our team.. that's right.. OUR team clinches it in style!!! They win the most important match of the season and everything else is A-OK. Divorced parents come together, grades are superb, a jilted lover re-enters the fray, bullies begin to applaud and all those people who doubted the boys and girls in the team once upon a time, are up on their feet and clapping their asses off.
You'd think I'd be sick of this same planned and 'by the playbooks' ending after every film, but I'm not. I love it!
That being said, a few movies do go out of the way and kill the sameyness of a home team win, by throwing a bit of heartbreak into the mix, most notably Cool Runnings, Rocky Balboa, Any Given Sunday, Saturday Night Lights and so on and so forth. Very often, this makes the runners up or losing team appear to be stronger, more gallant and better human beings after losing and still being able to keep their heads up high, having fought the good fight.
And before I end up dragging on and on, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love sports films, because they always lift my mood, not for their realism, not for the message they try to leave the viewer with and certainly not the acting. In my view, it takes a beautifully crafted film, and more importantly, a succesful film that will make the viewer care about its characters. I'm yet to see one that has left me apathetic to the plea of its team members and I hope to God I never see one that kills this, my favourite escapist pastime.
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