Rama’s SCREEN

No matter how many times we’ve been fed with the same moral lesson that this movie has, we still find ourselves coming back to it again and again. There’s just something about football movies with… racial tension and equality message that’s just very appealing and THE EXPRESS is no different. It’s a human drama that’s as powerful as it is entertaining. It’s a well made, extraordinary biopic that has a lot of heart.

Raised in poverty in Pennsylvania coal-mining country, Davis hurdled social and economic obstacles to become one of the greatest running backs in college football history. Under the guidance of legendary Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid), he became a hero who superseded Jim Brown’s achievements and set records that stand to this day.
Decorated veteran Schwartzwalder was a Southerner with a single vision of a national championship and hardened ideas about how the world worked. But though he and Davis clashed mightily, he taught the player everything he knew about football, just as Davis helped him learn the true meaning of victory.

America has always been about the first, hell the most entertaining stories out there are those about ‘The First’. The first man on the moon, the first integrated school, the first to break any record,.. now mix that with the elements of overcoming obstacles and conquering giants over a period of time, and you’ll have movies like THE EXPRESS where not only it is about the first black man to win the Heisman Trophy but the road he had to go through to get him there is what makes him even more interesting.

The movie does a good job in making the audiences feel angry over the injustices and the racism in the South back in the 60s. It gets you all riled up and cuss at the screen even when the bad guy characters can’t really hear you.
What I love about football movies is the efforts they take to make the physical contact seem so real. Every massive injury-bound tackle makes you wanna cringe because you know.. That’s gotta hurt! The filmmaker would choreograph a scene where the football players would collide in the most hurtful manner you can imagine and they’d land in the most awkward, neck-breaking way but they’d still get up fine without a scratch. You gotta love Football movies!

I think what makes THE EXPRESS… different than Remember the Titans (notice I didn’t say ‘better’) is that this movie is not so much about the racial tension within the team but it’s about doing so much more than just running a ball, it’s about what the character’s representing when he’s out there on the field during the trivial times of civil rights. Sometimes we go through life doing things, making a living, thinking that we’re in our own little world and that what we do don’t have any attachment to the world outside. If we choose to think that way then it means we’ve chosen to be ignorant like everybody else. The coach in this movie, though a good man that he is, understands that if you play ball in the north, you play by the rules there and if you play ball in the south, you play by the rules there too. You don’t cause controversy and you sure as hell don’t stir up the pot, in fact, playing football to him has nothing to do with the political instability going on at the time.. but turning a blind eye can only last for so long until doing what’s right comes knocking on your door, demanding your attention and involvement.

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