Paula Mills writes:

I strongly disagree w/ your review. I am from WV, have been to Marshall, and personally talked to survivors. Football was their life there. Have you done any of this? They did not want to be portrayed as defeated, they wanted to show that they could overcome this devastating tragedy.

We’re sorry Paula didn’t feel that our review did the town of Marshall justice; but we’re not clear if she feels the film did Marshall justice, either.

It’s the film’s job to convince those who are not from West Virginia, those who do not know folks from Marshall—and in particular, those who do not come from a town whose residents’ lives begin and end with football—that football itself could heal the town’s wounds.

Mike Smith did a fine job of writing about why he felt the film did not do that. Sometimes trying too hard has the same effect of not trying hard enough.

But obviously, Mike’s opinion represents only one viewpoint. Others have disagreed with Mike; and now that the film is out on DVD, even more folks will get a chance to decide for themselves not whether football actually saved Marshall, but whether the film convinces us that it did—or could.