Remember the Titans: Beyond the silver screen

MANILA, Philippines - I’m a big fan of inspirational movies based on true-to-life stories. Oftentimes, I’d see myself smiling at the reality these movies try to mimic. I’d even tear up at the right moments in the film where all characters grow because the lesson that the protagonist has been trying to teach has finally reached both by their mind and heart. For me, nothing says that more than my most favorite movie of this genre, Remember the Titans.

The film chronicles the story of a mixed American football team led by African-American coach Herman Boone when the US was still trying to stop racial discrimination. Beating insurmountable odds, the Titans under the tutelage of Boone have shown not only their competitors but the whole nation that it’s not about the color of their skin but who they are inside that matters.

What made me love Remember the Titans is the story behind it. I can drone on and on about the cinematography or the actors or even the script. However, there are better movies out there that can fit quite well in my self-imposed criteria. What Remember the Titans has is weight. Knowing that the film is portraying the period where America has undergone the slow change of accepting its black brothers into the same level as the whites.

Every line, every shot and every moment of the movie is carefully putting up this image of an era where racial discrimination is woefully dying legislatively but still culturally ingrained in a lot of areas in America.

The movie goes beyond the football field and masterfully shows the realities of an era that will be forever strange and alien to me. While I know personally that the movie is a mere portrayal of that bygone American culture, but Remember the Titans has made it all real to me.

I believe that a true-to-life movie’s impact will be highly-tied to the story it’s based on. For me, the story behind the Titans is the main reason why I consider it my most favorite movie up to now. However, I must admit that while the story behind the movie is interesting in itself, if the execution of the people making the movie fails to properly convey the story, it not only fails its audience, but it also fails the people who the story was based on.

This is where I must commend the screenwriter, the director and the actors. While I did mention that Remember the Titans did not reach the point where they are the best in my own criteria, the movie as a whole has driven the message of the film home to me.

Denzel Washington, most notably known for his ability to bring any character to great lengths, did not carry the film on his own. Everyone, even the extras carried the film in such a way that I understood Remember the Titans was more than just a story of one football team.

I was given the first hand look on how each team member reacted to one another. The movie didn’t shove “this was racial discrimination back then” down my throat but instead showed me through the interaction of not just the main characters but of the minor characters as well.

Remember the Titans is one of those films where the weight of the true story behind the movie was carried wonderfully into the movie itself because of the harmonious mix of talent of the actors, the director and the screenwriter and the essence of the story the movie was based on. The superb mix of the story and the storytelling is sadly one of the things I have yet to see again in any movie Hollywood brings out.

Remember the Titans is close to my heart because this is one film that has inspired me to keep to my principles no matter what the cost, while listening to sound advice from people who I respect. That instead of waiting for change to happen, be the change you want to be.

I know this may sound preachy and all, but in all honesty, that’s one of the “lessons” I learned from the movie. With this lesson in mind up to now, this is the biggest reason why I consider Remember the Titans as my most favorite movie. Because no movie has taught me a principle that is as important in reality as what I learned from Remember the Titans.

And maybe, just maybe this is a lesson we all need to learn ourselves.

(About the author: Vincent Haoson is an online marketing officer. He maintains a gaming blog called Back2Gaming.)

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