The best documentaries either tell a good story or exist to make some sort of point, and there are even some that are capable of doing both. Super Size Me was great because it made the point about just how bad fast food is for us. Michael Moore's documentaries all make solid points about a wide variety of political topics. Anvil: The Story of Anvil documents the story of the rise and fall of an 80s metal band. Exit Through the Gift Shop was great because it had the narrative arc of the rise of a street artist as well as making strong points about the state of contemporary art. Fordson gives some half-assed attempts at doing both of these things, and if there's one thing I've learned from Ron Swanson, don't half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing.
Fordson is a documentary about a high school football team in Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn is a very unique city in America, it is the city with the largest percentage of muslims in the country. The movie offers some discussion about the discrimination muslims have faced in post-9/11 America. The principal frequently receives emails from angry bigots about the football players doing islamic prayers before the games, and the films contrasts this with other schools doing christian prayers before games and no one really caring about it. However, the film makes repeated mentions that the city of Dearborn is so isolated from the rest of the country that, other than an incident in Ohio, the people in the movie don't face much discrimination based on their religion. The strongest point that the movie does make it showing that muslims in America are just like anyone else in this country, which although is a positive message that we don't hear much of these days (see the cancellation of TLC's “All-American Muslim”)
It doesn't make for entertaining or interesting film, because frankly, normal people are boring.
The film tries to make up for this by focusing on the exciting world of high school football. The players face some extraordinary difficulties having to practice during Ramadan when they have to fast from sunrise to sunset, which as a formal high school football player, I thought was incredible. However, the film doesn't spend much time on this, and rightly so because there isn't really much of an interesting narrative there as none of the players suffer any major physical issues caused by the fasting. One of the players is a very talented wide receiver and is being recruited by many division I college programs. This could have been a bit more interesting if the filmmakers had devoted more time to this story, but they didn't because ultimately it was irrelevant to the themes they wanted to convey. What the filmmakers do spend a lot of time on is the rivalry between Fordson high school and their cross town nemesis, Dearborn High School. The rivalry dates back to when Dearborn High opened in the 1970s. It is in a wealthier part of town than Fordson High and like many high school rivalries, there are certainly some classist issues between the two schools. But this movie isn't about the rich against the poor, it's about the muslim experience in America, and both high schools have a predominantly muslim student body, so when the tow school face off against each other in the climactic game, it lacks the conflict that had been described throughout the rest of the movie. It would have been a better climax for the movie if the team they played at the end was not from a largely muslim area and didn't have to face the adversity the students at Fordson did. The students at Dearborn High have to deal with exactly the same issues regarding discrimination on race and religion as those at Fordson. In fact, this movie could just as well been about Dearborn High School and not much at all would have needed to be changed.
This film is solid, but I don't think it's as good of a movie as it thinks it is. The illustration that muslims aren't all that different from ourselves is poignant and well delivered, but the film could have done more to make this the central topic of the movie. The high school football stuff is almost entirely fluff that the film could have done without. I would have liked to see the film cover muslim life in areas other than Dearborn, including regions outside of the United States. I think that this would have made for a better film rather than trying to capitalize on the success of films like Remember the Titans and Friday Night Lights.
Rating: 6/10 - Virtuous
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