I watched the movie "McFarlane" recently. This is a sports inspirational film produced by Disney in 2015, based on a true story. In sports movies, inspiration can be said to be a main theme. And after watching "McFarlane", I was also very moved and burst into tears. This time, let's talk about this good sports inspirational movie.
"McFarlane" tells the story of a coach and a group of trail runners. The protagonist coach had to come to McFarland to teach because of teaching mistakes. It was a poor American agricultural town with mostly Hispanic residents, and there was even a prison across the street from the school. In the beginning, the protagonist just uses McFarlane as a springboard and buffer for his career. However, he found that high school students here had to run home because the school was far from home. At that moment, the protagonist coach realizes their running potential. The protagonist coach tried every means to form a team of them to participate in the "rich area sports" trail run. As the race results became more and more outstanding, the lives of the people of McFarland gradually became more hopeful and hopeful, and the protagonist finally gave up his high-paying career and settled in McFarland to teach.
One of my strong feelings after watching "McFarlane" is that this inspirational film is a bit over the top, and I suddenly have the urge to run a few kilometers. Of course, I myself run a lot, and I run 20 to 30 kilometers a week. Before that, I also liked running programs such as "The Wind Blows". Therefore, my feelings for running inspirational movies will be deeper. However, even if you don't like running, it doesn't hinder the inspirational nature of "McFarland".
Really speaking, running is just the inspirational medium or carrier of this movie, and what really matters is the impact of the sport on the characters. In the movie, some of the seven runners participating in the cross-country race will help their families harvest crops at 5:00 in the morning, while others think that their future is hopeless and will always be the fate of farmers. If there is no protagonist coach into their lives, maybe they will be hardworking farmers in this life, or they will be imprisoned as traitors. However, after they participated in cross-country running, they gained self-confidence and both went to college and eventually became teachers, journalists, etc.
I was deeply moved by watching these runners change their fortunes because of cross-country running. Once, I didn't like long-distance running, 3 kilometers felt very far. But then, when I trained and did the 15k, my mindset changed a lot - I was more confident. I ran distances that I thought were out of reach, and I realized that I could do things that I thought were hard. Since then, I've started to reflect on what "self-imposed limits" I've had. After realizing "self-imposed limits", life seems to have more possibilities.
In the movie, the seven runners also set a lot of psychological restrictions on themselves, and never thought that they could get out of poverty-until they met the protagonist coach and started trail running. For me, running distance is self-limiting. For the 7 contestants, "I am only a weak person in society" is their self-imposed limitation. So when they achieve little by little, surpassing team after team, winning award after award, they also push their limits. This is the opportunity to move the gears of their destiny, and it is also the key to the inspirational character of the movie.
"When I'm running, I feel like I'm a god." -- that's not the kind of rhetoric that the original group of students in the movie could have written. Trail running changed them, and the protagonist coach changed them.
Of course, "McFarlane" not only captures the inspirational root of this story, but also expresses "inspirational" very delicately. Or, in other words, the passionate and inspirational plot of "McFarlane" is designed quite routinely. Basically, the sports side of McFarlane roughly follows this story framework - "discover talent → lose the game and get back on your feet → overcome the odds and win". This routine has nothing to do with good or bad, as long as we grasp the source of inspiration, the story can be told well.
On the other hand, this group of players also changed the protagonist coach. At first, the coach was incompatible with McFarland, and some looked down on McFarland. He worked hard to train players, not only to change these students, but also for his own selfishness, and he was unwilling to be reduced to being a coach at McFarland. After her daughter witnessed the murder scene, the coach decided to interview for coaching positions in other schools for the sake of her daughter's safety. However, after McFarlane won the state championship, the coach gave up his wealth, his good job, and stayed with McFarlane. The key to this change is McFarland, the runners and local residents make the protagonist coach feel the warmth of "hometown".
When "McFarlane" designed the story, it cleverly arranged different interpersonal networks for the seven players. The group image of "McFarland Residents" is represented by the personal images of the players' family members, relatives, friends, etc. This kind of character design avoids the proliferation of too many unnecessary characters, but it is just enough to connect with the protagonist's family. Maybe real-world relationships aren't what the movie shows, but it's not hard to guess that real-life coaches are also left behind because of the warm group impression McFarlane made of him. The film presents the coach's relationship with McFarlane in a relatively artistic way, which I think is just the right story design, with a simple and elegant story aesthetic.
At the same time, the film's grasp of the primary and secondary details is also pleasing to the eye. The source of inspiration for this movie is the group of players, but the protagonist chose the coach and cut in from his perspective. There are two main reasons. First, the selection of real events is based on him, and his deeds are praised by the movie. Second, the coach is the axis of this group of players, whose perspective can show this real event more comprehensively.
Based on this design, "McFarlane" further optimized the character design of the seven players. In fact, the family backgrounds of these seven players are different, and their motivation and goals are also different. It is the key to clarify the priority. In the movie, the protagonist coach has the deepest connection with one of the players. The player thinks that he deserves the life of this poor man in his life, and the player's father is even more useless in reading. For residents of a poor agricultural town like McFarland, this notion is representative, so the film focuses on this character, and the protagonist has a deep conversation with the contestant.
At the same time, "McFarland" chose three brothers players, focusing on reflecting the material conditions of most of McFarland's family. They need to get up at 4:30, go to school after finishing the farm work, and go to work on the farm after school. Low wages and family mobilization are the living conditions of many McFarland students. In order to ensure their training, the protagonist coach volunteered to help them with farm work. As for the subplots of the other players, the subplots are relatively sketched, and the goal of "enriching the diversity of the players' backgrounds and increasing the connection between the protagonist coach and McFarland" is achieved, even if it is done.
It can be found that whether it is a McFarland resident or seven contestants, "McFarland" is very good at excavating the representation of individual characters and depicting group images with a few individual images. This can be used not only in sports films and inspirational films, but also in many other film themes that involve the depiction of group images. The character design techniques of "McFarland" are worthy of reference.
Aside from personal emotional touches and other factors, the bold artistic choice of "McFarlane" is what impressed me the most. As we all know, real-life adaptations often end with Easter eggs, telling the audience how the characters are doing in real life. In this easter egg, the movie mentions the coach and 7 players, but does not mention the coach's family. As a guess, the behavior of the coach's wife and two daughters in real life may be a little different from the movie.
From the perspective of the plot, the family has a great influence on the coach's decision and the direction of the plot. There are several important turning points that cannot be separated from the family. If the design of the family relationship in the movie is added for the sake of story art, then this is indeed a relatively big change in authenticity. I think this is also a good demonstration. In addition to ensuring the authenticity of the core plot, the real adaptation should appropriately carry out the artistic adaptation of the story, and the effect of the film after the choice is still good.
Of course, the story design is really bold about the relationship between the family and the protagonist's coach, but I don't think it's done very well. When the protagonist coach puts more time and energy into training, he pays less attention to family. Such conflicts are buried in the movie. The protagonist forgets his daughter's birthday cake in order to train the players, and pays less attention to his wife. I think this is a very ironic plot design. In the mind of the protagonist coach, is training more important or family is more important?
MacFarlane doesn't do much in this regard, though. After simply laying the foreshadowing of contradictions, the movie quickly repaired the family relationship with a scene celebrating the daughter's coming-of-age ceremony. If family members are ignored for a long time, the accumulated contradictions will be difficult to resolve through a birthday party. Such a story design seems sloppy and whitewashes the contradictions. I can also understand that, after all, the subplot of family relationship is likely to be fabricated, and the theme of the movie is not the "work-family" conflict. As long as it can show the influence of the protagonist coach on McFarland, that's enough.
From this point of view, although "McFarland" is very enthusiastic and inspirational, and the story techniques and plot design are full of beauty, it is still difficult to cover up the shortcomings of insufficient depth, and the protagonist's portrayal is not very deep. Of course, this is not to be judged as insufficient. After all, the real adaptation of the story itself cannot be changed drastically, and there are natural restrictions. On the whole, "McFarlane" has really done well enough to be worth watching.
Welcome to the headline number and public number of the same name (Fugui Film Review)
View more about McFarland, USA reviews
