We liked a lot this true tale of a hot-headed teacher who forms a high school cross-country track team with Hispanic farmworkers in a dirt-poor 1987 California town. The acting is good and the story is inspiring. Kevin Costner (last in Draft Day) and Maria Bello (most recently in Third Person) are great as always and so are the boys. The only one I had seen before is Carlos Pratts (played Gus in the TV series The Bridge, among others) as Thomas. Two of the others, Hector Duran and Johnny Ortiz (as Johnny and Jose, respectively), had a few credits and the others, Michael Aguero, Sergio Avelar, Rafael Martinez, and Ramiro Rodriguez, make their acting debuts here. Not making her debut is Morgan Saylor, who plays the daughter in Homeland, and Costner's and Bello's daughter here. Diana Maria Riva, who plays Señora Diaz, was also in The Bridge, among many other credits.
Director Niki Caro (Whale Rider (2002) won Best Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Awards, and North Country (2005) earned Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand Oscar nominations) is from New Zealand, but definitely has the hang of this country by now.
Grant Thompson wrote the screenplay (his first feature after a handful of acting jobs) from a story by Christopher Cleveland and Bettina Gilois (they also wrote Glory Road (2006), another true story, about the Texas Western coach who led the first all-black starting line-up to the NCAA national championship in 1966).
There are lots of songs, listed here and streamed there, and a nice score, composed by Antonio Pinto (his work includes Central Station (Central do Brasil - 1998), City of God (Cidade de Deus - 2002), and Love in the Time of Cholera (2007)), which is available on this youtube playlist.
We vote with the audiences of Rotten Tomatoes, with 92%, rather than the critics' 79.
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