Year of the Bull (2003) User Reviews

Disturbing documentary

[JohnSeal · 7/10 · 16 September 2004]

They take their high school football seriously in Miami's impoverished Liberty City neighborhood. VERY seriously. This documentary takes a look at Taurean Charles, the star player for Northwestern High, a school that has produced countless college athletes and almost two dozen NFL players. The film follows Charles on the field, where he generally excels, and in the classroom, where he doesn't. His future is tied up in the SAT exam, a test he's taken four times without successfully crossing the threshold established for college athletes by NCAA rules. (He takes the test for a fifth time at film's end, but I won't give away the result.) The most disturbing element of this film, however, isn't Charles' somewhat lackadaisical approach to the SAT, but the, erm, 'training methods' of his coaches. I know nothing about the game, but I can't imagine that the physical and mental abuse these young men are pounded with really does them any good. Coaches slap players, scream profanities at them, tackle players, and generally beat the living crap out of them...right on camera, and apparently without second thoughts. The testosterone is palpable. This is an interesting twist on the Hoop Dreams genre, but that film's basketball coaches were quite restrained in comparison to what we see here. A gut wrenching and powerful film, for all the wrong reasons.

Incredible slice of big-time HS football

[fsulongm · 8/10 · 12 October 2005]

High School football doesn't get more intense than the 6A playoffs in Florida and Texas. This is an incredible look at an inner city perennial football power in Miami, and the recruitment of its star player, Taurean Charles. If you want to know what it's really like, this is it.

Spoiler: Taurean Charles eventually makes it to the University of Florida on a football scholarship when the movie ends. Since then - at UF he was arrested twice, suspended for the entire 2004 season after beating another student up and throwing a keg at his head (second arrest), then finally dismissed in March 2005. Watch how his HS football coaches teach him how to act at UF, and you won't be surprised at how he ended up.

He is now a junior linebacker at 1-AA Bethune Cookman college in Daytona (Fall 2005).

Excellent Show if you can stand to watch

[cjsteichen · 8/10 · 22 December 2005]

Taurean Charles is a poster child for how not to raise a boy. I feel that his mother has done her best, but what about the so called "men" in his life? Here's what he got--a high school principal who lets him get away with theft, players who want him to cover their spread on football bets, and coaches so vile I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. When Taurean Charles becomes another statistical point on the young black men incarcerated list, I hope those men fall to their knees and cry in shame. Somehow, I don't think that will happen. They will just move on to the next "m___therF---ingA--ole" who can be exploited by their greed. This show kept me up last night. It's very good, but Lord Have Mercy.

A great documentary, a recommendation for any football fan.

[jetrogans19 · 10/10 · 22 January 2005]

Very well done.

That is all I can say. Gave insights to the true world of High School Football, and how bad some people have it.

There was nothing wrong with it, and a truly great documentary.

Taurean Charles is a warrior, and I hope all works out for him during his stay at Florida.

Currently a Red-Shirt Sophomore.

2 Thumbs up for this film. As already said, if you consider yourself a football fan, or just a fan of sports, this is a must-see.

If you have anything bad to say about it, I would love to discuss it with you.

I cannot believe that anybody would, except maybe about the use of profanity by players and coaches.

However, that is the real world and what goes on in High School football, and in Miami's ghettos, so that profanity would be expected, if the movie was to truly portray how it was.

a must see

[southsidehitmen · 10/10 · 19 April 2006]

This documentary is a must see for everyone, not just football fans and players. It gives the audience a chance to see how a powerhouse football team operates and how it ties into the every day lives of the citizens of that community. The school is in the Liberty City section of Miami, and their football team's success is unparalleled in the state. The movie focuses on the star player and his relationship with his family, coaches (high school and college), peers, teachers, and other community leaders. ***semi-spoiler*** Sadly, there is a disturbing epilogue to this documentary. Two players, including the main character from the movie, both went on to play big time division 1 football. Both quickly became academically ineligible and got into some legal problems. Both are now out of those schools. Taurean the main character, however, started over at a smaller school and had much success on the athletic fields in his first season.

After seeing the way the high school is run and other external issues, some may not be surprised to see the outcomes of their careers.

Meh! What's Everyone Else See?

[yodaschoda · 3/10 · 9 November 2017]

Perhaps my view on this documentary is a bit jaded. I waited for a few years until I was able to find a copy of it at a local pawn shop. Having heard it touted as "Hoop Dreams" but for football, I was sold. What I saw was not worthy of this reference at all...

I've seen nearly every commercial documentary about football, and pretty close to every football movie there is as well and this one simply doesn't hold up. The main figures are forced and come off as fake. The situations that come across in the movie at times look staged and or more gritty for the sake of being gritty. Over all, the experience feels less than sincere and more like something an amateur would make as a high school film project.

There are far better documentaries about this great game that would grab your attention and pull at your heart strings far more than this disappointment of a movie (Undefeated, and the sublime Go Tigers!).

Save yourself the time and find another documentary to watch.

Sick

[ddjones72499 · 18 October 2004]

The violence that those young men suffered at the hands of those coaches is sickening. The injustice that the administrator served to Taurean should have cost him his job. I can't believe that the state of Florida employs those idiots! I would have pulled my child out of that school immediately. Black America needs to see that athletics is NOT the only means of getting out of poverty situations. We need to focus on education, and humanity. Sadly none of those men counseled Taurean on his grades, they were concerned with what he could do for them. I wonder how many NFL players that graduated from that high school, actually come back for mentoring? I am appalled and disgusted at the behavior of those black men. It takes discipline to create excellence and cussing and hitting is NOT discipline. That football program at Northwest should be terminated!

Taurean is a true determine player

[tinjon215 · 16 September 2004]

I really like the film and Taurean Charles. I never heard of Taurean Charles but I do find him attractive and it would be a dream come true to finally meet him. Getting back to the film it really shows how so much pressure is put upon the star player let alone the pressure of society it is to for one person to bare. I think that the coaches were extremely to ruff on the team and expected to much from Taurean during the games. If it is possible for me to meet Taurean Charles though you people it would greatly be appreciated by myself and Taurean Charles he would definitely thank you for bring us together. I know this is a not a dating services but I don't know how to get in contact with him help me please.