Coach Carter [DVD] [2005]

The basic story is pretty simple. Coach Carter takes over a team of undisciplined players who are used to losing games and underachieving in the classroom. Things are going to change. He tells the kids that they will win if they do as he says, but they will have to earn it, and they will have to hit the books as well as the courts if they are going to play for him. He makes them sign a contract: they have to agree to maintain a 2.3 GPA, attend all their classes (and sit on the front row), and dress up on game days. These requirements go beyond state guidelines for academic eligibility. Initially, many of the players balk, and one even walks. Coach has his guys ready to play, however, and they start out on a tremendous run. The kids get big heads and so some stupid things - and they pay for it. Things hit rock bottom, though, when Coach Carter finds out that many of his kids have not lived up to their agreements: several are skipping class and failing. That's when Coach Carter locks up the gym and cancels practice as well as key games until such time as his team has lived up to their agreement.

The tragic part of this story is not the kids, it's the school administration and the parents. Some of the parents have fits over the stipulations of the coach-player contracts, but the whole community goes apoplectic when Carter actually starts forfeiting games. Let the kids play, they yell, because basketball is all these kids have in life. Boy, that's a great message to give your kids, isn't it? Then you have the school principal who is seemingly satisfied with mediocrity; only half of her students actually graduate, and she seems to think that's just the ways things have to be. She doesn't approve of the academic requirements Coach Carter institutes with his team, and she doesn't like the lockout one bit. Worst of all, she completely stymies Carter's request for academic progress reports from his players' teachers - that's why he doesn't find out half of them are flunking until well into the season. The school board is no better, clearly putting sports before academics. Coach Carter has to fight an uphill battle not only with his kids, but with the very people charged with educating them. That is a disheartening reality in two many school districts today - and few schools will be lucky enough to have a Coach Carter to stir things up.

Naturally, the movie takes us to a number of basketball games, but they don't dominate the story, not by a long shot. The only quibble I have about the games concerns the big game at the end. During the obligatory win-or-lose shot hanging in the air for an eternity, some of the fans in the crowd seem to be smiling. I've lived through a number of these eternity-stretching last shots, and never have I smiled - I've grimaced, certainly; I've gotten down on my hands and knees on many an occasion; I've lifted my hands in earnest supplication to the Almighty; I've grabbed my hair and hung on for dear life - but never, ever have I smiled in such moments.

Based on a true story, Coach Carter is a wonderful, inspirational film, and Samuel L. Jackson is terrific in the role of Coach Carter. This movie sends all the right messages to youngsters, especially those whom society basically expects to fail, using various compelling subplots to validate the whole story in reality. It also serves as a clarion call to parents; you can't always depend on the school system to educate your children - and if you don't care about your child's education, he or she probably won't care either.