The Braves

Joe captains the ‘Braves’, the not-very-good school ‘soccer’ team. It’s America and the game we know, although they play with some of the terminology, and Joe is their sweeper, usually their brave last defender against the odds until the ‘phenom’ arrives – a Brazilian magician of a forward. Simple stuff at this level but only part of more serious things Joe has to tackle and where his defending has to be much more deeply brave. The ‘phenom’ takes the girl that Joe has never been daring enough to turn from girl friend to girlfriend. The simmering antagonism of opposing factions boils over within the school forcing Joe to defend a friend against the violent and rough justice of the school yard and the tough ‘Bankside’ kids (who make up the successful ‘football’ team) bussed into this Lawndale school. It’s a physical fight that Joe bravely takes on, like his dad before him, but is he brave enough finally to turn away from it and learn from what has happened to his dad? A worthwhile future requires him to show his intelligence. It’s a great mixture of adolescent tensions of the fist (or boot), the heart and the head.