This amazing story is based on true events at Richmond High School in Richmond, California, a community at the north end of San Francisco Bay with a reputation for trouble.  It's a feel good story with some very rough spots along the way.  The screenplay is quite similar in structure to an older film, Stand and Deliver (1988) in which a courageous teacher takes on an inner city classroom and teaches them calculus so effectively, they're accused of cheating. 

            The Richmond story revolves around the school basketball team, the Oilers.  The event that received national media attention occurred when Carter locked out the entire team in 1999 for failing to achieve their required academic standing.          

I enjoyed this film for several reasons: an uplifting story, good acting, and terrific basketball scenes.  It's a true life, multiple hero's journey and it's all the more impressive when you learn how closely the storyline tracks historical events.  That's revealed in the DVD Special Features segment called Coach Carter: The man behind the movie.  The first surprise is how much Samuel Jackson looks like the real Ken Carter that he portrays on screen.  The next surprise is hearing the real Carter tells us about his year at Richmond High.  It's almost exactly what we just saw dramatized.

The second segment called, Fast Break at Richmond High School, is also worth watching.  The training for the basketball-playing actors was every bit as strenuous as the regime that Coach Carter put his team through in 1999.  One of the actors even said that.  I found it interesting that the plays were scanned into a 3-D virtual reality computerized storyboard that was used to set the film sequences, the shot angles and the lenses to be used. 

            I recommend watching the film and both segments.  The Special Features finishes with five-year reunion of the team, a few plays and some post high school graduate achievement testimonials by the real players.

            In order to place events in their real environment, the film includes shots of seedy areas of Richmond, drug selling activity, violence and teen sexuality.  However the real life lessons are important for teens.

            Reviewed July 25, 2005                Copyright 2005 Charles T. Markee

            MPAA: Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content, language, teen partying and some drug material.