When the Game Stands Tall

A story from American high school football. The De La Salle team did not lose for twelve years. A hundred and fifty-one consecutive wins is a national record and the school is known for it. The film covers the season in which the streak ended. The coach, Bob Ladouceur, has a heart attack, one of the players is murdered, and in the new season the team loses repeatedly. The subject is not winning but what losing is. The coach's method rests on that: he asks the players to make commitments to each other and puts results in second place. The film follows the real events but combines some characters and shifts the timing. The game sequences are standard for the genre; the weight is in the locker room and the family scenes. Jim Caviezel plays Ladouceur, Michael Chiklis his assistant and Laura Dern his wife. Thomas Carter directed. A familiar example for anyone who likes sports films and stories drawn from real events. For a viewer expecting something new, the film works through the shapes of its genre in order.