A Lesson from Sean Astin

Forever Strong is a fairly typical sports movie about a juvenile delinquent who joins a rugby team and gradually turns his life around, reconciling with his ultra demanding father and winning a national championship at the end. Sean Astin, who plays the resident manager of the juvenile detention center who gets him on the team, made this comment: "A good sports movie isn't really about sports."

He's right. A good sports movie is about people, and relationships, and learning and growing - sports is just a medium to demonstrating these things. Anyone who thinks that it's the national championship that really makes the movie, look closer. It's not a victory if the main character hoisting the trophy doesn't have that final poignant moment with the father or the child or the best friend or the girl. Those are what matter - even though these moments don't carry the same volume and hullabaloo, the trophy is always secondary to the personal victory. Triumph, when greeted alone, is meaningless.