‘McFarland, USA’: Hispanic high schoolers running for their lives

*I’ve been hearing good things about this movie. Might be a good option this cold weekend. VL

By Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

There are good things to say about the inspirational Disney sports film McFarland, USA, starting with its up-from-the-scrap-heap story, which happens to be true.

In 1987, a group of Latino high schoolers in McFarland, Calif., sons of crop pickers and day laborers, comes together under a new coach to compete in track. The cross-country underdogs win the state championship, beating out elite schools and kicking off a decades-long victory streak for the team sprung from one of California’s most economically depressed communities.

Of course, the coach who leads the fledgling McFarland Cougars has his own hurdles to leap. Jim White (Kevin Costner) was fired from his last job after he hit his quarterback in the face with a shoe. He’s had run-ins with students and administrators at other schools, too. The life science/phys-ed position at McFarland High might be the hot-headed educator’s last shot.

Click HERE to read the full story.

[Photo courtesy of Disney]

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