Undefeated-2011

Director Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin

Starring Montrail “Money” Brown

Scott’s Review #134

Reviewed July 25, 2014

Grade: B

Undefeated (2011) is an emotional documentary, a true story of a high school football coach brought into a struggling, poor, suburban Memphis area high school and leading the team to a championship title.

The story of the coach taking various students under his wing, father figure style, and helping them succeed in, not only football but scholastics as well is inspiring and heartwarming.

The coach’s passion shines through to the viewer in this story.

As wonderful a story as it is, I felt slightly let down by it as, yet again, the slant on the story is of an affluent white family swooping into a poor black neighborhood and saving the black kids with their mighty influence.

Why can’t we see a film that is the reverse?

In the twenty-first century, this is becoming slightly offensive and one-sided. It is The Blind Side (2009) with real people!

With that rant made, the documentary is pretty awe-inspiring and the coach is portrayed as a fantastic, truly caring human being. I laughed, cried, and rooted for the struggling football team to victory.

The portion on what has since happened to the football players is interesting to see.

Undefeated won the Best Documentary Oscar in 2012.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Documentary-Feature (won)