100s of San Angelo-Area Youth Attend Free Showing of "Woodlawn"

A clap of applause rose from the movie theater’s front doors and spread among volunteers lining the sidewalks at 6:55 p.m. on Wednesday, cheers of success mixing in with laughter as someone called out, ‘We reached 300!’

A snake of teens and tweens had woven around the roped off maze in front of the San Angelo Tinseltown just an hour prior, and shortly after 6 p.m., the theater began admitting attendees from the ever-growing line into the building to purchase concessions in groups of 30, then ushering them off to gradually fill the first of two rented theater rooms.

As the clock ticked down to movie time, smaller groups of local youth continued to filter in, each being handed their own free ticket to a 7 p.m. showing of “Woodlawn” by state troopers, members of the Men of Courage, leaders from Concho Valley CARES, and a couple of Blue Knights.

TxDPS Recruiter Sgt. Carlos Diaz smiled and warmly greeted as many approaching kids as he could, inspired by the turnout and the message he hoped the film would send to all of those in attendance when he approached local organizations with an idea to fund the viewing for area youth last week.

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Above: Trooper Carlos Diaz welcomes moviegoers who came out to see "Woodlawn" for free. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)

“I feel like it’s good,” said Grape Creek junior Timothy House with regard to the gesture. “A lot of kids here can’t afford to buy tickets.”

House, who was in attendance with a group of friends from his church’s youth group United, hadn’t seen the trailer and didn’t know what to expect going into the theater, but said he knew it was Christian-based and centered on football. Other members of his group, including Lake View junior Ciara Burleson and Grape Creek junior Damond Humiston, also weren’t sure what to expect, but agreed that there must be something overwhelmingly positive to inspire local organizations to purchase tickets for so many teens.

“Honestly, I think it’s a good thing [that organizations purchased the tickets],” Burleson said. “Obviously they want as many people as possible to go see this movie for good reasons.” Burleson said she does see problems amongst her peers with moral fortitude, integrity and honesty, and hoped the film would underscore those values.

“I feel like we’re kind of selfish,” Humiston agreed. “Like three of us said ‘thank you’ out there.”

As the time neared 7:30 and the first theater had filled, latecomers and volunteers began streaming into the second screen room to watch the film. There were approximately 50 people present when the film finally started, and the audience engaged, some reciting back portions of the Lord’s Prayer, others quietly whispering their approval of the message being relayed on screen.

The film centered on a newly integrated school in Alabama in the 1970s that, for the first time, had black players on their high school football team. Following the divisive line of racial clashes and the city’s historical stance on segregation, the students of Woodlawn High progress from a political divide to one of mutual respect and understanding as a sports minister approaches the football team and converts them over to a faith that unites and guides them throughout two seasons.

“There’s so many different messages in the movie,” Timothy House said after the film had concluded. “There’s no reason to judge people by their color. It’s weird to think that even back in the ‘70s that it was an issue dealing with separation of God and schools and everything. I guess I really didn’t think it was an issue back then. I just felt it was going to be sort of like ‘Friday Night Lights,’ but it was a lot different.”

House said he was somewhat astonished at the focus his peers had shown during the film, drawing a parallel between a scene set in the Woodlawn High School gymnasium in which all of students sat chatting as a coach attempted to gain their attention.

“Once he [the minister] starts talking, everyone starts listening to what he has to say,” House recalled.  “I think that applied to us in the theater as well. In the beginning, we were all sitting, laughing, talking, but once the movie progressed, we all started paying attention and really listening to what he had to say.”

Humiston added that the message of faith in the film was well received by the audience, who he reckoned could relate well with the material regardless of their religious beliefs due to the manner in which it was presented.

“Quite often, after every time they would say something [in the film], someone would say, ‘amen’ or start clapping,” Humiston said. “One thing I liked, a lot of people go to church and what they say goes. Using real life applications, like football—a lot of people play football—maybe that would catch their eye more than what a pastor has to say. Maybe the real world application actually gets people more than sitting in a church pew on Sunday morning.”

For Humiston, the most impactful part of the film was a moment when the minister told the team ‘‘when you play for yourself, great things will happen. But when you play for a higher power, that’s when amazing things happen’.

“I think that really hit me,” he said. “I thought about that the whole rest of the movie, and it’s true.”

Sgt. Diaz, who was so inspired by the movie’s trailer he solicited funding for the showing on Wednesday night, beamed with an emotion that could not be put into words as the teens filtered out of the theater on Wednesday night. The film, he said, comes at a perfect moment for the times, and the event was every bit of what he had been expecting.

“[It was] very successful,” he smiled. “We had a total of 350 [people] come by and obviously enjoy the movie. This couldn’t have been successful without the combination of many people that have come together.”

Initially, the local Men of Courage offered to fund the movie showing with up to 500 tickets; however, Concho Valley CARES, an organization who has a budget dedicated to putting on positive community events for youth, volunteered to use their funds to rent out the space. On Wednesday, the Men of Courage were on hand to pass out tickets, and were prepared to pay for an additional night if there was any overflow.  

“I’m just overwhelmed with joy at the success of this program,” Diaz said. “I think we touched a lot of lives tonight.”

Ciara Burleson agreed.

“Maybe they’re not trying to push us and make us believe, they’re trying to show us and give us inspiration in ourselves to be able to believe in God ourselves,” she said, relating a story of a friend who was competing in a sport at summer camp, but at some point stopped praying and said he could handle it on his own. He ended up losing. “You can’t do it all yourself. You have to have God there by your side. Maybe I need God there with me the entire time, not just half the time.”