Rich what? -Richmond...

Movie Review:
This movie portrays a coach who tries to teach his players to play basketball as well as their altitude and academic performance. Ken Carter is a basketball ex-player holding a number of his old team’s records in Richmond High school. Years later, he returns to the school and takes over the job as the team’s coach. He wants to make the Richmond team into a winning team and teaches the boys to respect themselves and excel in the classroom. In the first day, he makes a contract and asks all the players to sign. The contract states that the players have to achieve a GPA of 2.3 scores, attend all the classes and sit in the front row of the classes. The players refuse to sign the contract at first, but forced to sign it because this is only the chance for them to play basketball. Under Carter’s guidance, the team turns their losing season around and allowed to take part in Annual Bayhill Tournament. However, Carter found that they did not upheld the contract, he decides to lock the gym. He cancels all the practices and game even the Fremont Game which is the biggest game of the year. This receives a lot of complaints and oppositions from the parents and a board is set up to overcome this problem. In the board, the 5 voting members and the principal with a vote of 4 to 2 end the lockout of the gym and Carter resign his position. But when he reaches the gym, he sees all the players are doing their course works there. They ask Carter not to leave them and promise that they will meet all the term of the contract. Finally, they achieve the requirements and start playing basketball again. They are in to the State Tournament and opponent is St. Francis which is one of the best high school team in the nation. They are loss in the competition with the scores of 68 to 70. At the end, most of them go on to college and some with the college scholarship.
Comments:
In my view, this movie expresses many issues to us. First, I learn that team cooperation must be achieved in order to success. In the story, Mr. Cruz verbally abuses Ken Carter on the first day and be asked to leave the gym. When he wants to join the team again, Carter does not accept him. Carter asks him to do 2500 pushups and 1000 suicides before Friday. It is an impossible mission. But at the end, all the players share responsibility for him and he is allowed to join the team again.
Besides that, I learn that situation of teenagers in the society become worse nowadays. According to Coach Carter, Richmond High School only graduates 50% of its students and 6% of the graduates go to college. There is a great question: where are they going? And the answer is probably to prison. This is a very serious problem in the society now. We have to pay more attention to this issue. One of the most effective ways is education. So, in the story Coach Carter takes over the job as a coach is try to change the players’ altitude and discipline as well as make a good way for them in the future. Finally, he is successful as most of the players are going on to college.