1971, Virginia. The school board of Alexandria are forced to merge Black and White schools and in doing so hand the job of Head Coach of the Titans to Coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington). Can the team and the town come together to look past race divides?

Remember The Titans was released in 2000 and portrays events from 1971 and yet watching it now still feels remarkably prescient. This disappointing fact means that the film still holds substantial power in its story about how sport can bring people together and promote understanding.

The plot follows Boone, his coaching staff and his players as they navigate the engrained prejudices within them all. His ousting of existing white Head Coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton) provokes the very real possibility of a complete boycott of the team from all white players. Yoast however, helped by his football obsessed daughter Sheryl (Hayden Panettiere) decides to stay on as an assistant coach and brings all of his players with him. The bulk of the film is then split between the football camp where Boone forces his team to mix and bond and the record breaking run in the State Championship afterwards. As you would expect, Denzel Washington lends the film a real sense of importance and power. Whilst Patton has always been good as the proud, religious middle American.

Amongst the team are many young actors who you will recognise now as mainstream stars. The biggest plotline and character arcs belong to Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) and Julius Campbell (Wood Harris) who play the leaders of each race contingent. Initially they hate everything about each other. But when forced to look closer realise they are not that different at all and forge a strong friendship. Elsewhere there is the rivalry between Petey Jones (Donald Faison) and Alan Bosley (Ryan Gosling) who fill the same position, the hippy quarterback Sunshine (Kip Pardue) who can not pass short, the religious centre of the team Rev (Craig Kirkwood) and the fat comedy character (Ethan Suplee). Whether we see the team bonding over musical tastes, partying or sweating on the field a real sense of camaraderie is on display.

Remember The Titans is a fine entry point into both the sports and civil rights genres.