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Journalism of Courage
Undefeated won the Oscar for best documentary feature on Sunday,beating off strong competition in a wide-open field with no clear favourites.
Directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin,the film is an inspiring story about a struggling high school football team in a poor Memphis neighbourhood.
But the film also courted controversy when martin uttered the word ‘f*****g’ in his acceptance speech in which he praised his fellow nominees – a rare Oscar night expletive.
We would like to acknowledge our fellow nominees,they have inspired us. They have inspired us in so many ways,they should be up here with us,actually,that’d be f*****g amazing, Martin said.
The word was bleeped out for the television audience,and minutes later Martin apologised to reporters backstage.
First and foremost I’d actually like to apologise for this. I don’t think it was the classiest thing. It did come from the heart. It was out of spontaneity,it was completely accidental, Martin said.
Undefeated triumphed against Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – the fight of three convicted murderers to clear their names,and Hell and Back Again – detailing the struggles of a war veteran returning to civilian life to win the Oscar statuette.
The film has echoes of The Blind Side,the 2009 feature film in which a Memphis mother played by Sandra Bullock adopts a homeless black teenager and helps him achieve football stardom.
