| 'Friday
Night Lights' has a powerful message
By Whitney Russler
November 15, 2004 | It was Friday
night and my friends and I wanted to see a movie. I
had heard Friday Night Lights was good, but
little did I know it was so powerful I left the theater
with many memories of my own experience of small town
sports.
Friday Night Lights is based on the book by
H.G. Bissinger about high school football. The movie
goes throughout the entire 1988 season of the Permian
High Panthers of Odessa, Texas. Coach Daines of the
panthers (Billy Bob Thornton takes tons of criticism
and pressure from the town for the team to be a winning
team.
He's not just the players' coach but he's the town's
coach. Odessa shuts down on Friday nights when the panthers
play a game. Everyone in the town puts their dreams,
hopes and aspirations into this football team leaving
the players feeling full of pressures and expectations.
The stadium these young boys play at seats 20,000 every
Friday night. Coach Gaines has a star player, Derek
Luke, who is being recruited by the top Division One
football colleges all across the country. The team's
plays are run around Luke. Then it happens; what all
teams dread, the star player tears his ACL.
The cinematography captures the feelings and the emotions
that go with having a star player get hurt, especially
toward the beginning of the season. The team, the coach,
and the town are in denial that Luke is really hurt.
The local doctor tells him it's a minor strain and it
will be all right in three weeks because he doesn't
want to see his team loose. Coach Daines has hope that
his team can still pull the season together but after
his star player's injury his team starts losing, bad.
He then gets "for sale" signs put up in the
front lawn of his house, and threats from the community.
Not only do the players get pressured from the community
and coach but the movie also depicts the home life of
each of the main players. One player's dad (Tim McGraw)
is the drunken father who expects his son to win a championship
just like he did in high school. He was the town's legend
when he played. This abusive, drunken father expects
his son to be the football player he once was. He gives
him encouragement by calling him a terrible football
player and stepping onto the field during practice to
beat him up when he messes up a play.
The quarterback for the team has a hard home life as
well. His mom is a mentally unstable single mother whom
never leaves the house. The son feels pressure to be
the primary caretaker of his mother at the same time
being the quarterback for the town. At one point in
the movie a townie says to the boys, "enjoy it,
you're only seventeen." The quarterback turns to
his teammate and says, "I sure don't feel seventeen."
This is one of the best football and sports movies I've
seen. It isn't your typical leave the theater with a
victory and good solid feeling. It's filled with the
real life of what small town players go through in Texas
where football is attended more than church. I left
with memories of my own days of playing sports. The
cinematography was excellent and the feelings portrayed
through the shots were incredible. I was able to feel
what I once felt all over again. The politics of a small
town sports team, the expectations, the threats, the
home life. I highly recommend this movie, especially
to those sports fans.
NW
MK |
