“Pride” is an inspirational and moving underdog tale in the same vein as the recent “Invincible” and “Gridiron Gang”. The simple fact that we’ve seen this kind of film before, albeit dealing with a different sport, does not detract from its entertainment value. Heartwarming stories like this don’t tire easily. With phenomenal acting and a wonderful screenplay based on the real life accomplishments of Jim Ellis, “Pride” is a solid film that is likely to strike a chord of approval in every audience.

Jim Ellis (Terence Howard) has ambitions and dreams, but due to the racial discriminations in a 1973 Philadelphia, he is forced to take a lowly city job cleaning up a nearly abandoned recreational facility. He discovers the crotchety janitor Elston (Bernie Mac) and a fully functional swimming pool. When the facility is scheduled to be closed up and the basketball hoop outside is removed, the local kids who dominated the court decide to accept an offer from Ellis to use the pool. After they realize the potential of Ellis’s training and their own potential as a team, they form the cities’ first African-American swim team and must face the atrocities of racism and injustice to rise to the top of the sport.

Nearly every performance was unparalleled, and Terrence Howard once again delivers a stirring and emotional presentation. Working closely with the real Jim Ellis, his portrayal is heartfelt and accurate and another admirable role alongside his Oscar-nominated turn in “Crash”. Even Bernie Mac, who can best be appreciated in very small doses, fits perfectly in the role of Elston. He manages to appropriately mix occasional comic relief with a warm-hearted character that provides a sort of glue between Ellis and the kids. And of course the swimmers themselves are all exceptional and realistic as street-wise kids who slowly realize the importance of achieving their goals and working as a team. Handpicked by director Sunu Gonera, they all had to go through boot camp training and learn how to swim…not just well, but perfectly. All the swimmers had to learn to compete at the level of professionals, and during filming were pitted against actual professional swimmers who portrayed the rival student teams. Gonera was fortunate enough to get every actor he wanted as his first choice, and therefore elicited top-notch performances from everyone.

“Pride” is a classic example of an inspirational biopic and its uplifting themes and ideals are easy to relate to and a mass audience appeal. Nearly all of the events depicted in the film are based on events that actually happened to Ellis. From the drug-dealing pimp (played by Gary Sturgis) to the first girl trying to break into the sport (Regine Nehy as Willie), the realism of the film is compounded by the depictions of these diverse characters. Two of the young actors on the team were cast even though they couldn’t swim, but after extensive training, the group acts as a team as much in real life as they did on the set. The film is a huge project for first-time director Gonera, but he has been training for it all his life. From directing commercials, acting, and making a Cannes official selection short film, Sunu’s entire life has been practice for his dreams of directing feature films.

Have we seen this all before? With films like “Coach Carter”, “Invincible”, “Remember the Titans” and others all in recent memory, the answer is yes. The story is essentially the same, with different characters and a different sport. But these kinds of films haven’t lost any of their luster, and continue to be fresh and exciting. As long as they are made with the same level of enthusiasm and personal involvement that directors like Sunu Gonera have exerted, these movies will continue to seduce audiences and are guaranteed to entertain.

- Mike Massie

Click here to read the EXCLUSIVE interview with director Sunu Gonera!