maxkolbe

This is a very inspiring story and the movie is very authentic in its portrayal of the real events (as evidenced by clips from the actual people in the closing credits). I love Jim Caveizel as an actor and as a person. No one has taken a hit in Hollywood over the past decade more for his principles. I wanted to see the film just to support him and the message of the film. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie on its own merits. This is a very noble and worthy film. Caveizel does not come across as a typical high school football coach but he very effectively captures Coach Ladouceur's demeanor and integrity. The basic messages of giving perfect effort (even if one cannot guarantee perfect results), becoming someone of integrity and what it means to be someone others can count on really resonate. This is such a refreshing movie compared to most of the nihilistic alternatives currently out there. Please see this movie and take your kids.

D'Souza makes an effective and fair defense of America - what makes her special - and provides the proper moral and historical context for various injustices in our history. I find it ironic that critics are accusing D'Souza of making straw-man arguments and withholding key facts or arguments in the discussion of slavery, capitalism, etc. D'Souza does nothing of the sort. He very fairly states the general accusations of those on the left who accuse the US of illegitimacy because of slavery, capitalism, imperialism, etc. He pokes holes in arguments made by well-known professors and political commentators on the left (Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, etc.) and fills in critical details intentionally left out to support an "America is evil and needs to be re-made" conclusion. This is definitely NOT an instance where D'Souza parades up a bunch of light-weights making specious arguments. I find it laughable, but sadly not surprising, that several very left-leaning critics gave America a "0" out of 100. I note that these same critics thought some hatchet-job documentary on the Koch brothers (I know - even the mere mention of their names should cause all acceptably left-leaning citizens to convulse in anger) was "passionate" but "fair" and not "vituperative." They even gave Transformers close to a score of 40. It's obvious that these critics measure the worth of a documentary not on its truth or accessibility but on its political message. Ultimately, it appears a "good" documentary starts with a conclusion they support, e.g. "corporations and Christians are bad and big-government atheist liberals are good", and then selectively back-fit data to support this conclusion. Oh, and if you can sufficiently rabble-rouse and inspire people to rise up against "the man", that makes the documentary even better. Since America is a fair and compelling argument in defense of the "idea" of America (quoting Bono from US in the movie) - that of liberty, free enterprise, and entrepreneurship - this does not sit well with several of the critics who give the movie a score of 0. This is dishonest but sadly expected. Go see this movie and bring your kids. You'll be glad you did.