This is an excellent documentary that truly captures what it is to be a part of a football team in the South. Larger than life personalities mingle and clash unfiltered within the setting of the most "Southern" of the southern states, Mississippi, where no two things matter more than Jesus and Football. What makes the South different than most places is that it unabashedly wears its soul on the outside for all to see. It is an impossible Gumbo of compassion, hope, joy, camaraderie and love mixed in with hypocrisy, bombastic narcissism, misplaced priorities, mistrust and deep social issues. At first glance it appears incredibly dysfunctional, but in the end it somehow makes sense. I feel that this documentary captures the reality of the South and of Mississippi.
This documentary also exposes the universal issue of institutions of learning bending to the needs of their Athletic Programs. So often the tail is wagging the dog. Even so it complicates the issue by firmly highlighting that for many Athletics provides the only viable opportunity to escape a life of poverty and violence.
There are people like Brittany Wagner (in the documentary), who devote their lives to forging opportunities for others, and their contributions too often go unnoticed. We live in a screwed up world, it is refreshing to see people like her who refuse to give up on the lives of others.
This documentary also exposes the universal issue of institutions of learning bending to the needs of their Athletic Programs. So often the tail is wagging the dog. Even so it complicates the issue by firmly highlighting that for many Athletics provides the only viable opportunity to escape a life of poverty and violence.
There are people like Brittany Wagner (in the documentary), who devote their lives to forging opportunities for others, and their contributions too often go unnoticed. We live in a screwed up world, it is refreshing to see people like her who refuse to give up on the lives of others.