We Are Marshall: An Emotionally Undercooked Film
Directed by McG
“We are Marshall. We’ll take anybody.”
Jack Lengyel
We are Marshall depicts the rebuilding of a community and a football team caught in the aftermath of a plane crash in 1970 that killed 75 people of Marshall University. Those numbered in the crash were 37 of their players, 5 coaches, 2 trainers, an athletic director, 25 boosters, and 5 airplane crew members. Simply based off this premise alone, the film required some sensitivity when approaching the retelling of this historical tragedy.
Following the heels of this event, the University President Donald Dedmon, executed wonderfully by David Strathairn, is at an impasse as he wishes to suspend the football program but faces opposition. Marshall students and the residents within the community disagree with this and they show this by conducting a campus wide protest using the words “We are Marshall!” With protests mostly led by one of the surviving players – Nate Ruffin – his efforts do not go unnoticed. The President concedes and is on the hunt for a replacement head coach since William “Red” Dawson, played by Matthew Fox, is apprehensive to return after such a tragedy. Dedmon ends up recruiting Jack Lengyel, actualized by Matthew McConaughey, and he eventually convinces Red to join the team as the Assistant Head Coach. The film goes on to depict the struggle of a community grieving so many losses at once and at the same time, rebuilding what remained.
To analyze the technical parts, the characters and their motivations within felt paper thin. With so many supporting characters and so little time for their development, the film felt emotionally challenged. Though this is not to say that the supporting cast did not do well, it simply means that there were too many to focus on. As a domino effect of the lack of characterization, much of the motivational speeches seemed to hold little emotional weight. It sounded like the usual “We will overcome!” speeches heard in numerous hopeful movies but this time it is not backed with much feeling. Despite this heavy theme, the film provided little comedic relief through McConaughey. Though it was not his best work, he did a sufficient job as an optimistic new coach. One of the characters that provided some emotion was David Strathairn as he truly appeared to be a president navigating through an unprecedented loss. Matthew Fox, as the assistant coach, brought quite a bit of feeling as one who is burdened by the tragedy. Anthony Mackie, who performed well as Nate Ruffin, displayed his drive to make his friends proud.
The film was decently made, but it still lacked the development needed to truly feel connected to the characters and effectively portray the true feelings of such a devastating loss of community. We are Marshall was moderately good, but it could have been better with a bit more characterization.
The Island Cinephile 
