Coach Carter :: Movie Review

The film ‘Coach Carter’ is based on a true life story of Coach Ken Carter (played by Samuel L. Jackson). Ken Carter was the one of the top basketball player back in his time so he has been offered to coach his former school, Richmond High School in Richmond, California as the school’s basketball team didn’t performed well and always been defeated. It all started when Coach Carter first meet with his basketball team, he has made an agreement with all of the teammates. It is stated in the agreement that all of his basketball players must maintain their academic performance and their grade point average must be not lower than 2.3. All of the boys must also sit in front of the class during class lesson. Some of the boys agreed with the agreement, some are not and left the team. Starts from that day, they keep on practicing hardly everyday for the tournament. Coach Carter is a smart coach, he coach his team very well, providing his team with great tactics, inspires the boys with motivation and useful encouragement. As the results, their team become unbeatable and continuing their winning streak. Then the boys started to lose their focus in study and they get bad results that is not qualify the agreement. So, Coach Carter decided to lock the gym and benched his team. He also decided not to open the gym and continue their daily basketball practice. Worst, they also suffered their first defeat as Coach Carter decided not to participate in any match until the boys get better results in their study. His action has also attract the media attention and he received less praise compare to criticism for his decision. Things get worst when the society want Coach Carter to be dismissed from the coaching the school. All of the boys feel sorry for Coach Carter and they start to study harder. They fill their time more at school library and as the result of their hardworking, they all get better marks and get back with their game until the state playoff.

This movie isn’t just about basketball, it has moral messages hidden in it. The first message that we can learn from this movie is that the important of education in our life. We can’t get far in sport unless we are very good in it, but education will definitely can get you anywhere as long we have the right spirit. That was in Coach Carter’s mind, he want his players to be good in both sport and education, that’s why he make the agreement and regulation for the boys to obey, it’s for their own good. Another message hidden in this movie is that we need to be respectful to everyone around us doesn’t matter who they are. In the beginning of the movie we can see the disrespect of some of the boys towards Coach Carter. They just ignore and playing around when Coach Carter ask them to line up. Some of the boys also use rude words to the elder, that is Coach Carter. To make things right, Coach Carter ask them to use the word ‘sir’ when introduce other people. He also provide useful advice when telling stories to show the important of respect. Moreover, another message in this movie is about the social problems occur in society. In this movie, we can see many social problems occur in the society such as drug abuse, unprotected sex and foul mouths. We should stop all of these social problems from continuing so that we can live in a better surrounding. Overall, the film 'Coach Carter' is a nice movie to watch.