Finally got to see We are Marshall here in Huntington, WV, the very town this movie has as its setting. I like it a lot, but It is very difficult to see it as being just a movie, because the movies is so much about the town, the university, and even somebody you may know or meet here. You cannot maintain the distance that could be afforded to other movies when appreciating them. Yet this feeling is special.

The movie is emotionally charged most of the time, as it should be, given the fact that so many people died and a team rose from ashes. It oscillates between being poignant and funny. The pain part was very well captured by Mathew Fox, who plays Red Dawson, the assistant coach, who was tormented by the fact that he happened to have missed the disaster while the rest of his team died.

The other Mathew who played the head coach seemed to lack some emotional depth in the role he played. That might be natural, because the role he portrayed had had nothing to do with Marshall before accepting the role as head coach. Yet at other times, it is just Mathew the "star" coming out. That effect could be diminished if the coach is played by a less well-known guy. Or have I been way too saturated with all the coverage about Mathew the superstar that it is now impossible to scratch the actor to see the acted?

Even as someone who speaks English as a foreign language, I can tell that his language is somewhat banal as some critics have pointed out. It is too “movie-like”, so to speak. However, there are also bursts of freshness. For instance, when he gets President Dedmon to visit NCAA in person by asking Dedmon how he proposed to his wife.

But to be fair, Mattew did a good job showing the development of his character. Jack the head coack is actually the one transformed by the whole experience. When he makes that speech in the cemetery, one sees the transformation reach a climax.

My favorite is the character of Don Dedmon. He is portrayed into a rounded, developed, and rich character. In him you see the mixture of the somewhat clumsy academic, a really hard-working leader, and a converted Herd fan. The rise of the football team seemed to have had the greatest impact on him.

At the end of the movie, it is mentioned that the Young Thundering Herd lost more games in the 70s than any other football program in the nation. However, the glory comes in the 90s, when the team won championships and produced national football stars. That line has the potential of becoming something really great. But it was dismissed too quickly. There is really a good point in there: It takes time to actually make a program work. More importantly, it takes incubation, nurturing, and even patience in years and years of tireless work. Yet these are not materials for Hollywood. There is less drama in them. Instead, the movie turns to a spike of glory in those years that were not actually chracterized by winning games. The real thundering glory, I believe, is the laying of foundations in these early years in spite of pressures and losses. Hemmingway says courage is grace under pressure. So is glory.

作為曼聯(lián)球迷，起初是被片名《加油馬歇爾》所吸引，以為是一部一般的青春校園電影?？戳酥蟀l(fā)現(xiàn)完全不是一回事，說(shuō)的是大學(xué)冠軍球隊(duì)遭遇空難后重現(xiàn)輝煌的“歷程”，不禁讓人想到了慕尼黑空難，曼聯(lián)主力幾乎全都遇難????巧合的是，曼聯(lián)和馬歇爾大學(xué)簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)都是mu。影片主角為影帝馬修麥康納，陣容現(xiàn)在來(lái)看可謂星光璀璨，劇本與表現(xiàn)都比想象的有深度，著重筆墨在“重建過(guò)程”，多年后的奪冠一筆帶過(guò)，勵(lì)志又感人。

宅家?guī)滋?，看了六七部美?guó)講橄欖球的片子。除了一部 The Longest Yard，其他幾部都是根據(jù)真實(shí)故事改編，很感嘆橄欖球故事在美國(guó)的盛行——他們尊重過(guò)去、銘記過(guò)去那些或殘酷或光輝的痕跡。

這部We Are Marshall的主角是馬歇爾大學(xué)的橄欖球隊(duì)，出場(chǎng)對(duì)陣的是Eagles，而Eagles是我看的另一部橄欖球電影Invincible的主角球隊(duì)。

Marshalle這只球隊(duì)位于西弗吉尼亞的Huntington，數(shù)據(jù)顯示：2000年這里的人口才5萬(wàn)人。
我看的另一部片子 The Express的男主角在Elmira踢球，數(shù)據(jù)顯示：Elmira到2000年才3萬(wàn)人。
而紀(jì)錄片Undefeated中的主角是一所叫做 Manassas High School 的中學(xué)橄欖球隊(duì)，學(xué)校全是黑人學(xué)生，家里的親戚幾乎都能找出吸過(guò)毒坐過(guò)牢的。那在這樣的情況下，依舊有一只整編的、有完好裝備的、跟各個(gè)學(xué)校打比賽的正牌球隊(duì)。

所以特別感嘆于橄欖球運(yùn)動(dòng)在美國(guó)的普及與狂熱，就算幾萬(wàn)人的城市，依舊組的好幾十人的球隊(duì)、專(zhuān)業(yè)的教練團(tuán)隊(duì)、死忠的球迷、八卦的傳媒。知乎上有對(duì)于橄欖球運(yùn)動(dòng)為何在美國(guó)這么流行有專(zhuān)業(yè)的解析，從商業(yè)層面、制度架構(gòu)、精神聯(lián)合進(jìn)行了深度講解。

另一個(gè)感觸是：美國(guó)運(yùn)動(dòng)的現(xiàn)代史也是黑人努力爭(zhēng)取、嶄露頭角、紅遍天下的歷史。從一開(kāi)始全白人運(yùn)動(dòng)；到后來(lái)某幾個(gè)俱樂(lè)部戰(zhàn)戰(zhàn)兢兢雇傭一兩名黑人，黑人忍受各種不平等待遇與威嚇；到現(xiàn)在幾乎美國(guó)流行的各類(lèi)運(yùn)動(dòng)（NFL、MBL、NBA等）都是最重要的力量。
 The Longest Yard里面有一段對(duì)話(huà)很有意思，黑人囚犯對(duì)白人囚犯說(shuō)：你們白人動(dòng)不動(dòng)就得什么抑郁癥，真不懂你們有什么好抑郁的，你們可是白人?。。ㄒ馑际歉鞣N尊重、福利、機(jī)會(huì)）
同時(shí)你在看這些片子的時(shí)候，也會(huì)對(duì)于美國(guó)黑人的生活狀況非常吃驚，作為一個(gè)相對(duì)民主、富裕、保障體系良好的國(guó)家，黑人區(qū)是如此的貧瘠、混亂、缺乏教育與秩序。你在黑人區(qū)長(zhǎng)大，還不像說(shuō)在中國(guó)一個(gè)貧困山區(qū)長(zhǎng)大，因?yàn)樵诤谌藚^(qū)你會(huì)受到很糟糕的環(huán)境影響，幾乎很大程度上會(huì)成為混混或幫派的一份子。中國(guó)的一些不發(fā)達(dá)地區(qū)的孩子，如果好好念書(shū)，相對(duì)單純的環(huán)境還是可以補(bǔ)足一條出路給他們。

好萊塢與傳媒已經(jīng)深深的把橄欖球與美國(guó)信仰/精神連接在了一起，這很可怕（旁觀者看來(lái)）也很必要（對(duì)于治國(guó)者來(lái)說(shuō)）。
不止中國(guó)愛(ài)造夢(mèng)，至少?gòu)拿绹?guó)電影看起來(lái)，這是一個(gè)異常愛(ài)造夢(mèng)的國(guó)度，只是他們更善于罷了。