Film Analysis - Undefeated (2011)

Film Analysis:
Undefeated (2011) - Directed by Daniel Lindsay & T.J. Martin
Starring: Bill Courtney, O.C. Brown and Montrail Brown

This film is a Sport Documentary about an high school football team from Memphis, Tennessee and their poverous struggle to achieve victory over their opponents. From the remise is may not seem heart wrenching or worthy of a story to tell, however each of the key characters in this film have their own problems and dramas that occur, making this highly sensitive and a key look into the lives of people in Southern USA. The film has a unique arc that make it seem fictional, as if it were written by a screenwriter, however this is a mark of the truth that fact is often weirder than fiction. It startles the audience to see people such as this in a situation where they are pushed to be the best and somehow come out the other side victorious. This is classic underdog  story which is why is seems so scripted as it seems like a story that someone would write. It is a heartfelt documentary that uses its characters in order to enforce the motive of the narrative, the coach of the team ‘Bill Courtney’ talks through the entire film about character, preserving his message consistently throughout the duration. This film has themes of motivation, teamwork, friendship and perseverance.

A key dramatic feature in this film is the relationships between the main characters, Bill, the coach brings everyone together and tries his hardest to help the team succeed. This formula brought to the story gives it a very compelling arc of an underdog story. Early on, the film tells the audience the history of the school ‘Manassas’ and their subsequent failures, year after year ever since the the school opened in the early 20th century. Documentaries often set up their premise this way in order to give some background so that the audience doesn’t go into the rest of the film completely blind. This allows us to put this years current team into perspective as well as the pressure that has been put on both Bill and the kids to win this years football games. This documentary is shot live in the action with interviews of the characters throughout in order for the audience to receive deeper insight into how the characters are feeling at that particular moment, this helps us understand the characters in the same way we would with a normal film, where scenes are constructed for us to develop an understanding of the characters from. However during each scene, the camera operators never make themselves known and make sure that the character never directly acknowledge them, this keeps the element of immersion in the story so that the audience aren’t thinking about the interference that may be caused by the presence of the film crew.

The film is linear, showing the gradual progression of the team from their origins in the team to their practices and finally each of their games. It is edited in a way to keep the narrative quick paced, by giving subheadings to each important event in the story, it keeps it structured, enabling the audience to fully understand the arc that the character are following. Due to this linear approach, it is very easy to see the characters grow and evolve over the course of the film. We see the 3 main boys, O.C., Money and Chavis follow their troubles and disputes with one another until a resolution is reached at the end with their final football game. This is another reasons why the film is so similar to a normal film, as it presents the audience with three versatile characters with their own issues and troubles but helps them persevere until they come out on top from the worst of a situation. This shows that the filmmakers found a story and followed it in a way, knowing that the characters they chose to follow would make the most significant change overall.