For Your Viewing Pleasure

A good film can hold the watcher’s attention even when the watcher already knows the story and how it ends. Such a film is McFarland, starring Kevin Costner. The story centers on Costner’s character, a highly-stressed out high school football coach who loses his cool and throws a cleated shoe at a player – and then loses his job. With few (if any) options available to him, he accepts a job teaching science and coaching at a high school in McFarland, CA. The town is definitely Mexican, so it takes the white middle-class family a bit to make adjustments to the new culture, but they do so willingly as they meet warm, wonderful people who welcome them into their neighborhood.

Costner develops an appreciation for the young men he sees leaving early for work in the fields, then running cross country to make it to school in time to beat the tardy bell. He sees their inner strength, as well as their innate potential for running, and decides to start a cross-country team. The team not only turns the young men around, but it also draws in the rest of the community with a deep sense of pride in the runners and their accomplishments.

This is a feel-good film that is worth the time to see. It is the kind of film that schools should show during assemblies or on a film night. It’s relatable for both adults, who need to know that the generations to come have potential and are able to reach for the stars, and for young people, who often doubt that they can make a difference. The message is there, but the movie isn’t in your face to receive it.

A second film that I watched this past week is the second installation of the Marigold Hotel, set in India and featuring a cast of elderly characters who wonder what’s left for them in a world that seems too focused on young people. The cast is amazing, playing elderly, but coming across as still vibrant and engaged with life. The story moves right along, but pauses here and there to present issues about the quality of one’s life after middle age is in the rear-view mirror.

Some days, it is challenging to wake up and realize that there are fewer days ahead than are past, but not have a clear pathway to the future. There are characters who are afraid to share love because they don’t know how long they have to enjoy their lives together. There are characters who realize that they are no longer defined by what they do, but who they are, and they are not sure who that is at this time in their lives. And there are characters who fool themselves into believing that they are fine just the way they are because it’s too much work (or too frightening) to take a chance on what if.

Absolutely the best event of the movie is the Bollywood wedding, which is fun, colorful, noisy, and a perfect ending to a subdued storyline. I like uplifting, fun entertainment, so I’m already standing in line for a ticket for the third phase of the Marigold Hotel series.