I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This film is about a disgraced swimmer coaching a bunch of deprived kids, helping them to achieve their potentials."Pride" is a formulaic film that you can tell the whole story right from the beginning to the end without watching it. Maybe that's the reason that I find it a little boring. Despite it being two hours long, there are still many plots that are poorly developed or explained. For example, they have not explained why the kids are forced to work for the mobsters, or where those mobs come from in the first place! Though the ending does raise my spirits up, I still think the film is a little boring. I think the film can be edited down to make it shorter and tighter.

Inspired by a true story tale is full of 1970's feeling but is disjointed in the telling. This is the tale of a black college swimmer who ends up in Phillie at a closing rec center in a bad neighborhood and somehow puts together a swim team. The film staggers around blindly for the first half hour until Terrence Howard, as our hero, gets the kids into the pool.It picks up at that point by becoming somewhat engaging, though it still staggers about. There is a good story in this and its clear why Howard and Bernie Mac took part in it, but the script is poor and most of the direction seems intent on making it feel like 197something instead of making us feel anything for the story.Not the disaster that some reviews made it out to be, it instead suffers by all of the recent sport true stories-Coach Carter, Invincible, Glory Road, etc, which at least knew that you have to at least work with the story to make a movie as opposed to just letting the audience suffer because "its true".

Great Film, first of all! I coach swimming and Ellis is a role model in my world. But I wanted to address a few things another poster said.One, at the final meet, you will notice that ALL the teams had very small teams. Look at the point accumulation, and that is obvious. Also, back then there were a very limited number of events, with each team only allowed to swim ONE swimmer per event. It is entirely possible for a small team to take the title as that is all that was brought to these meets...A small, select few.Back in the 70's the sport was not broken up into boys and girls events, not to mention training was the same for both boys and girls back then. Now you will find more emphasis is put on cardio (for endurance) for the girls, and the boys will lift weights for power. Do not get me wrong, BOTH will do cardio and lift, but boys and girls often are taught to emphasis different things these days. Back then, not so. The idea of a girl beating the boys, is certainly not far fetched.As to the flip turn debacle...after a flip turn you should NOT be disoriented, unless you don't know what you are doing. The lanes were narrower back then as well, it is easy to kick someone IF you are intending to do it.IF you like swimming, this is a pretty accurate portrayal of what Ellis went through, how he coached his kids and WHY PDR is STILL a powerhouse to this day.

This movie evoked a bundle of emotions, from tears to smiles, and cheers. I know many people get tired of seeing movies like this one, I am glad they still make them, for our children and grandchildren to know what it really was like in that day and time. If you have not been personally affected by hate of ANY kind then you may not fully understand and will get sick of seeing the same old movies being made.... All I can say is kudos to the film makers, they captured the spirit of those times perfectly. From the white coach who saw no color to the people who hated blacks simply because of color, to the young men being affected by the hate both white and black..... Two thumbs up from me...