Every once in a while, sport movies are made and usually for two reasons; for sports fans and to inspire. It’s easy for sport movies to touch you, because it usually involve athletes making their way to reach their dreams. The struggle possibly the most obvious among all professions, because it is physical and you can’t fake spirit. Which led me to Rudy (1993), said to be one of the best movie ever made.
The central of the story is Rudy (Sean Astin), who always wanted to be a fine athlete and go to Notre Dame University, which is a prestigious football national university. His father convince him that he should just go to work for him in the factory, rather than pursuing ‘unrealistic’ dreams. Notre Dame known for it’s high status and rich kids, which isn’t them. Rudy listens to him and work in the factory with his brothers and father for 4 years.
When Rudy’s supportive best friend died, he realized that life is short and should just go for his passion. He doesn’t listen to his father who still thinks that pursuing dreams can hurt him and people around him. Before seeing the coach of Notre Dame, he met a pastor who suggest him to go to school first to fix his grade for a year. Rudy accepts and studied hard, which led him to meet D-Bob (Jon Favreau) who agreed to tutor him if he introduced him to pretty girls.
Rudy even work with the stadium groundkeeper and get paid for a minimum wage, sleeps in the maintenance room which his boss ‘secretly’ give him the key. After trying several times, Rudy finally approved to be one of the college students. His father who previously look down on him couldn’t help but not be proud, but his other sons still mock Rudy for not showing in TV as member of the real team. Even in Notre Dame, Rudy still striving to make people believe he got what it takes to play, despite of his low athletic skills and small figure.
“In this life, you don’t have to prove nothin’ to nobody but yourself.”
Rudy (1993) was based on a true story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger and was chosen to be one of the best 25 Sports movies by ESPN. The authenticity of the story was almost accurate, except the dramatisation of the few climax scenes. Which is an unfortunate for me, because everything was going well until they decided they ‘have to’ make it more dramatic. Most of the time, the real story is already perfect. Here’s one inspiring athlete and person with high spirit, despite people’s doubt and cynical looks, still keep on going.
One great and moving scene for me, as it took me back to my own time when I really wanted to go to this school when I was younger, was when Rudy entered the Notre Dame players locker room. His face was filled with amazement and he looked at the winning quote on the wall like looking at something he’s longing to see. Rudy was young and inspired, hungry to learn and absorb. And he is finally in the place he always been dreaming his whole life.
Aside from being consistent after several failures and not losing faith, Rudy also showed how seeking approvals can easily mislead the path to success, since it was never the real goal. The approval meaning how people never take him seriously, though he practically done everything to be in the team. One also great lesson from Rudy is his humble and friendly personality, making friends with everyone and showing good intentions, therefore people couldn’t help but giving him support.
Sean Astin was a great actor as Rudy, as the passionate and sincere kind-hearted man, like he is in Lord of The Rings as Frodo’s company. It’s his best feature. Looking at younger Jon Favreau and especially younger (and cuter) Vince Vaughn as one of the Notre Dame members.
Maybe the lessons in Rudy isn’t much different from other inspiring sports movies. But that doesn’t mean the magic isn’t there.
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