The story of Friday Night Lights is one that will not only make the viewer tear, but shake
them with a cruel dose of reality. Friday Night Lights was a true-life story replaying the senor years of one
of Texas's most infamous highschool football teams. The story shows the heartaches and downfalls the team ultimatly went through
in order to reach the state championship of Texas. The movie goes into great detail showing the viewer the personal fight
each player went through, physically as well as mentally.
Each actor exemplified a different player of the 1988 Permian football team. With tension filled situations
rising from an abusive father to an intensive knee injury of the star player, Friday Night Lights is bound to
keep the intrest of even the slightest of football fans. After a rocky season the team pulls together and somehow manages
to squeeze into the playoffs. With a town that lives, breathes and sleeps football, the movie really pushed the issue of how
imperitive these games were. Billy Bob Thorton played the coach of the team and showed the viewer that his heart was
with the team as well as his coaching ability. After getting the team to the playoffs Thorton's coaching ability was the factor
leading to another move for his family. A town like Odessa Texas does not handle losing very well.
Towards the end of the movie it started to become very predictable as the team won every playoff
game. I had to tell myself as the viewer that these miracles really did occur and this was based on a true story. The true
shining moments of the movie were in the last 20 minutes as the team that no one believd in after losing the star player,
had reached the championship. The championship game had myself the viewer cringing. The graphic views of the bloody noses
and sound of the collisions were bound to shake up anyone. After a major turn around the team went against all odds and just
about tied the game in the last quater.
After a false call by one of the referees the game was slipping away from Permian. Being that the
film was based in a mixed race community the subject of racism was bound to come up. After fighting for
a mixed group of referees in an early part of the movie, the false call was in favor of the African American team, by the
African American ref. The movie did not blunty say that was the reasoning for the call, but implied it on more
then one occasion. That call was the reason Permian had lost the championship which caused the viewer an abundunce of frustration.
The final score was only off by 5 points. The ending of the movie was a real tear jerker as the final call was made and the
championship went to the opposing team.
The film definatly was one of the more interesting sports movies i have seen. The story really seemed
to move the audience. Between the actors, comparison to the true life story and the flow of the movie, I would definaly recommend
the film. In more than one occasion I felt a relationship with the team as well as the coach, and to feel that kind of connection
the movie had to be done well.
