By Elliott Bell

To understand Friday Night Lights, a movie closely based on H.G Bissinger’s novel that takes an in-depth look at high school football, you have to understand one key concept that governs almost all small towns in Texas: High school football is life.

Based on the true-life account of the 1988 Permian Panthers team’s attempt to win the state championship, Friday Night Lights delivers a gritty and powerful glimpse at life of teenage football players fighting for the pride of not only themselves, but their city.

The movie chronicles in particular the lives of running back Boobie Miles (Derek Luke), quarterback Mike Winchell (Lucas Black), running back Don Billingsley (Garrett Hedlund), safety Brian Chavez (Jay Hernandez) and linebacker Ivory Christian (Lee Jackson).

Billy Bob Thornton lends his talents in portraying the soft-spoken head coach Gary Gains, who attempts to instill in the boys a love for the game amidst pressure and high expectations from everyone in the city. And first time actor Tim McGraw lights up the screen and proves there is nothing he can’t do well by playing Don Billingsley’s alcoholic father, Charles.

The incredible thing about this movie is realness. This is not the Disney feel-good Remember the Titans, and it’s not the over-the-top whip creamed bikini Varsity Blues. This movie is the simple and sometimes sad realization that in a dirt-poor, oil town like Odessa, the high point in life for many of these kids will be the time spent leaving their hearts on the field.

It’s always difficult to adapt a movie from a book, but director Peter Berg, with the help of David Aaron Cohen (screenplay) and Bissinger does an incredible job of bringing an accurate representation of the real life players to the big screen.

The acting is superb in all areas. There are no cliché representations of the characters that tend to happen in most sports movies. Mike Winchell wasn’t a great leader in life, and Ivory Christian wasn’t some pumped up linebacker looking to destroy whatever came him way. Instead, Winchell was shy, awkward, and hesitant of being in the spotlight and Christian had a calm demeanor and rarely spoke. Staying true to the real life versions of these players adds a dimension that all other movies in this genre lack.

Most of the movie focuses on the characters abilities to carry the town on their backs. At one point, after a tough loss, the players must endure the ire of the town prompting one player to say, “It doesn’t feel like we are 17, does it?” And that is what the movie is all about. Young men forced to step up, and play their hearts out for a city depending on them. And when those hearts fall out, they duct tape them to their chest and continue to play – because in Odessa, there is no other option.

Overall, Friday Night Lights will have you on the edge of your seat with its gritty and powerful story. A football fan won’t blink once during this movie, and even a non-fan will relish the based on true-life story.