"By the end of the feature you are rooting for the Tigers’ success, supporting them as if you you've been a fan your entire life..."

Having won the much coveted Best Documentary award at this years Oscars, Undefeated comes to Britain with a degree of pressure surrounding it, not to mention a sense of scepticism – in what appears to be a typically mawkish Hollywood success story, yet although being exactly that, it’s also a brilliantly captivating picture that certainly proves to be deserving of its success. The title is somewhat misleading though, as they lose their first game…

Charting a season for the unfortunate and downtrodden American Football team the Manassas Tigers, Undefeated follows the team’s rise from being the state of Tennessee’s underdogs, to serious contenders, as against all the odds they come together to defy their critics, and as their results on the pitch improve, so do their grades.

Under the guidance and leadership of their coach Bill Courtney, the Tigers contain a host of working class teenagers coming from difficult backgrounds, such as the highly intelligent Montrail ‘Money’ Brown, the powerful and talented O.C. Brown, and ex-offender Chavis Daniels – a youngster who relies on football to steer him away from trouble. Considered as the local whipping boys, Courtney has different plans for this talented group of athletes, as not only does he intend on helping them achieve success on the pitch, but seeks in helping them academically, hoping to encourage them to get into college, which is no less than these underprivileged and disregarded kids deserve.

If you are concerned that your lack of knowledge for the sport of American Football may interfere with your enjoyment of this film, fear not, you certainly don’t have to know anything about the sport to appreciate and understand this movie. There may not not be any explanation of the game’s rules and there may be the occasional half-time team talk which features some rather long-winded tactical jargon that goes right over your head – but effectively the only thing that actually matters and is worth understanding is whether the team win, or whether they lose. And anyone can figure that one out.

The sport does work brilliantly as a backdrop however, in a film that is far more of a character study and social examination than it may lead you to believe. We look into themes such as race, social class and politics. This film may be billed as a documentary about the Manassas Tigers, but is more of a study of a group of written-off juveniles attempting to fulfil their dreams in the face of adversity.

As a result the film becomes highly endearing as you really grow to love those featured within it, and you find a real appreciation for players such as Money and O.C. Due to such support by the end of the feature you are rooting for the Tigers’ success, supporting them as if you you’ve been a fan your entire life. I was close to a dramatic fist pump in the cinema at one point.

And it is the characters which really make this film what it is, especially the coach Courtney. As somewhat of a lead role, his big personality is vital as without it the film would be rather dull. His passion and belief in the team is infectious and inspiring, although it has to be said that it becomes increasingly obvious that he is fully aware of the camera being on him at all times, and some of his team-talks have more emotion within them than you imagine would have taken place without the film crew being present.

On a more negative note the film is too long and takes a while before becoming truly intriguing, and is certainly guilty of manipulating the audience with sentimentality, in a similar mould to The Blind Side. Yet Undefeated is all real, and although these scenes come across as being rather bathetic and cheesy in parts, these scenarios actually took place which do provide the film with some validity and substance as these are real people and real events. So yes, before you ask, I cried. I cried a lot.