We Are Marshall (2006)

We are Marshall. What an inspiring movie. It is a story about the love of the game of football. Yet, it transcends football. It is the story of overcoming great obstacles, great loss, and an overwhelming tragedy. It is the story of perseverance. It is the story of enthusiasm and courage in the face of difficult situations.

The movie tells the story of a university, which in a plane crash lost all but 4 members of the football team, yet was able to field a football team the next year, playing mostly freshman. One movie reviewer provides some detail about the crash, “Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered Southern Airways DC-9 commercial jet flying from Kinston, NC (ISO) to the Huntington-Tri-State/Milton Airport (HTS) in Ceredo, West Virginia. At 7:35 PM on November 14, 1970, the aircraft crashed into a hill just short of the Tri-State Airport, killing all seventy-five on board. The plane was carrying the thirty-seven members of team, eight members of the coaching staff, twenty-five boosters, four flight crew members, and one employee of the charter company.”

The movie is based on a true story. The movie is basically a story about a courageous player, a courageous college president, and a courageous coach. Each of these people would overcome the odds and are instrumental in accomplishing the goal of putting a football team back on the field immediately after the tragedy tore the team, the town, families and the school. . .

Being from Ohio some of the places mentioned in the movie were also of personal interest. I lived in Gallipolis, not far from Huntington, WV for a few years. That is the location of Marshall University. Also Coach Jack Lengyel, who took over the Marshall football program after the tragedy was working at the College of Wooster (Ohio) at the time he applied for the vacant coaching position. I also lived near Wooster for over a decade. It also makes things more interesting when you have seen the places described in a movie. T.D., friend of A Good Choice blog, earlier this year wrote a review of this movie as well. He actually personally knew Coach Lengyel.

RATING

gregjaye rate this a must rent or must buy and gives it ***** out of *****. You will not be disappointed when watching this movie. This movie is much more than the typical sports movie, it tells a true story of human agony, grief, courage and triumph.