In Football They Trust Film Analysis

In Football They Trust

“Violence can either be emancipatory, when directed at forces of oppression, or reactionary, when directed at popular forces struggling against oppression.” In the film, In Football We Trust, directors tony Vainuku and Erika Cohn build a human interest documentary with classic, historic documentary elements to share the story of Polynesian boys in the Salt Lake City, Utah area that are struggling with poverty, family dynamics, and violence as they try to use football to save them and their families. Much like Debra Merskin states, “If Anglos, by way of media-supplied information, come not to expect much of Latinas and, because of the function of internalized oppression, Latinas do not expect much for themselves, the

Over the evolution of documentary films, human interest and social change documentaries emerged. In Football We Trust has aspects of both of these styles. It is a human interest film because it shines light in aspects of a subgroup of society that Americans may not see. In the beginning of the film we see Fihi walking in to high school and he makes the comment that most people don’t know what Polynesians are. “They just think that we are big Mexicans.” Except this is in the Salt Lake City area and Utah has the highest percentage of Samoans and Tongans per capita in the mainland Unites States. So, we can definitely see the subgroup of society having a light shone on them as well as how the Polynesian community is marginalized by the local population. Social Change documentaries tell a story in hopes of changing aspects of society. Vainuku and Cohn use this film to highlight the struggles and complexities of the Polynesian community. Though we see a story about four boys who face trials and adversity as they try to make it in football, we also see the problems that they run into are caused by greater issues like socioeconomic status and racism from those around them. As we are introduced to Harvey Langi’s family, we are told how he is one of nine kids and that his family cannot afford to get into the home football games at the school. His mother went to the principal begging for a way to be able to watch his games. The principal told her that he couldn’t pay her but could give her credit at the school, if her entire family cleaned the stadium after the games. We see her and her kids cleaning up the trash of the other spectators who come out to see the football star that leads the team to win the state championship—her son, Harvey. We also listen as Harvey’s father Sam talks of his neighborhood, a well to do white neighborhood. Harvey