Mcfarland, USA: Movie Analysis

722 Words2 Pages

McFarland, USA is essentially about Jim White, an Anglo-Saxon high school coach, whom is fired after he accidentally injures his captain football player. He is then forced to relocate to a small town named McFarland, as it was the only school that would hire him, due to the prior incident he had. McFarland is predominantly dominated with Mexican Americans. White eventually creates a cross-country team as he learns of the amazing, physical abilities his students have. With all the odds against them, the team are deemed as underdogs, but eventually come out on top as champions. Director Niki Caro performs a fantastic job portraying the struggles and burdens the young team of Mexican American students overcame to then become champions in the …show more content…

It is mentioned in the film that adolescents can start working on the field as young as ten or eleven years old. At one point in the film, three of the Diaz brothers are forced to quit the team, because their father needs them to pick more produce in the field. In order, to maintain his players, Jim volunteers to go help the Diaz and their family to pick more produce. By the end of their shift, the coach is ready to give up, while the rest of the group has advanced to the next field, he is still in his first aisle. He gives up and lays down, because his back is in intense pain. He later admits that this has been the hardest job he has ever done. This scene does a magnificent job emphasizing how backbreaking these workers must endeavor to earn a …show more content…

My parents never had the funding nor resources to ever be able to learn how to study, instead they were always encouraged to work. This movie is one that many families of Mexican Americans and immigrants can relate to. I love that this movie emphasizes how hard Mexican Americans work, because that is how they are in reality. The movie further exhibited the typical stereotypes Mexicans face daily such as how other teammates from the opposite team mocked them because they thought they did not understand the English

Open Document