I don’t even know where to begin with this amazing documentary. If you have boys that are playing football in school, whether it’s a state championship school or a school that has never won, you need to see this movie.
Set against the backdrop of a high school football season, Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s documentary UNDEFEATED is an intimate chronicle of three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and the volunteer coach trying to help them beat the odds on and off the field. Founded in 1899, Manassas High School in North Memphis has never seen its football team, the Tigers, win a playoff game. In recent decades, the last-place Tigers had gone so far as to sell its regular season games to rival schools looking to chalk up an easy win. That began to change in 2004, when Bill Courtney, former high school football coach turned businessman, volunteered to lend a hand. Focusing on nurturing emotional as well as physical strength, Courtney has helped the Tigers find their footing and their confidence. The 2009 Summer/Fall football season promises to be the Tigers’ best ever – perhaps the season that finally breaks the 110 year-old playoff jinx. For players and coaches alike, the season will be not only about winning games – it will be about how they grapple with the unforeseeable events that are part of football and part of life.
There is even a glimpse of a real life The Blind Side story in it. This documentary will pull at your heart strings and show you what it’s like for this discarded Memphis football team. Their triumphs aren’t just about winning a football game but about proving that they aren’t just “inner city kids” that can’t accomplish anything good. Even Sean Combs (P. Diddy) signed on to be an Executive Producer.
“I am excited to partner with Harvey Weinstein on this incredible project. UNDEFEATED is a great American story with a lot of heart and soul. It had a profound effect on me and I couldn’t get it out of my mind when I saw it. There is so much truth and so much hope in this film, and I feel passionately that everyone who sees it will be inspired,” commented Combs.
Coach, Bill Courtney, is a volunteer. That should say a lot about this amazing coach right up front. You can tell that the players look up to him as a Father not just a coach. He demands respect in a manner that I haven’t seen before. It’s truly amazing. I’ll be rooting for this documentary on Oscar night so that it gains the momentum that it deserves.
Check out the trailer of Undefeated.
Undefeated opens in select cities today February 17th, 2012.
