Woodlawn

As I've mentioned in other reviews, within the last decade, we've seen an upsurge on the spiritual type films, probably because of the problems that we are faced with on a daily basis: divorce, financial downfall, no jobs, debt, sicknesses, etc. So it should be no surprise that films like "Fireproof", "Courageous", God's Not Dead", "Soul Surfer" and the most recent "War Room"  are as popular as they are. So Hollywood is jumping on that bandwagon again with the likes of "Woodlawn".

In 1973, a spiritual awakening captures not only the hearts of this country through the Jesus Movement, but also the hearts of the Woodlawn High School Football team. Led by their coach Tandy Geralds (Nic Bishop) and assistant coach Mike Morton (Brando Eaton) along with their sports chaplain Hank (Sean Astin), and fueled by the team's dedication to love and unity in a school filled with racism and hate, the team makes an astounding run at the playoffs, leading to the largest attended high school football game ever played in the torn city of Birmingham, Alabama, and the rise of its first African American superstar--Tony Nathan (Caleb Castille). With this gift as a football player, Tony must learn to embrace his talent and his faith as he battles racial tensions on and off the field.

Others to round out the cast are C. Thomas Howell as Coach George "Shorty" White, the rival coach of Woodlawn, Jon Voight as Coach Paul Bryant, a visiting 'scouting' coach, Virginia Williams as Debbie, Sherri Shepherd as Momma Nathan, Joy Brunson as Johnnie, girlfriend of Tony's, Blake Burgess as Allyson, Marcus Henderson as Reggie Greene, Richard Kohnke as Jet Rutledge and DeVon Franklin as Preacher.

Obviously this is a football themed film which was based on a true story. I kind of akin this as a spiritual "Rudy" '93, "Clash of the Titans" '10 or even "When the Game Stands Tall" '14, even though the latter was basically an inspirational film. This was carefully and meticulously directed by the Erwin Brothers (Andrew and Jon) ("Alumni" '09 (TV movie), "Mom's Night Out" '14) plus TV. These guys certainly aren't veteran filmmakers, but given more work, they could be the next Kendrick Brothers. The actors seemed genuine and real in this, which is even more important considering the message in which they are attempting to convey to their audience. It was written by Jon Erwin and Quinton Peeples, and even though the guys don't have a ton of experience, there was certainly enough to get their different points across. Interesting how they were able to intertwine the message of knowing Jesus in one's life to the problems of racism, prejudice, social climbing, and being good at what you're at and was able to make cohesive all these points in one's life. This would be a tough task for any veteran writer in the biz. It is interesting that all this, in fact, transpired was even based on a true story. This, like with other films, makes for great human interest.

This film certainly has something for everyone, whether you be a believer in Christ or not. I feel we all have problems in this world, and to simply shove them under the carpet hoping they'll go away is just not practical or rational. Instead, if these films have any merit at all, it is to get us to rethink our issues so maybe we can see that there are other paths we can take than just shoving those issues under that proverbial carpet.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                               Rated: PG                                123mins.