I don't think he was trying to make anyone cry (if so, when? there's nothing remotely tragic about what happens).
The only emotion you get is frustration or anger at the other teams who seem hellbent on trying to kill or hurt the guy at any cost just because Richard had a natural talent for the game.
It's a good film, but not a great film. The culmination is supposed to be this massive riot at the end... for which we see very little. For some reason the director is more interested in showing us people starring at their radios and listening to what's going on.
I also wasn't impressed by some of the shots: I mean the ones where his brother-in-law is behind that fence.. would it have hurt them to move some of the people around to make it look like different games (or heck, could that have moved the camera just to change the angles?)
Same goes for those train shots. Were they all taking the exact same train in the same position with the same lighting and the same clothing and positions when they traveled?
I'm really not a hockey fan so when they start naming people and saying stuff about them, I have no clue as to what they are referring to. And they never clearly explain why the mistreatment of Richard went and grabbed so many french people: maybe if they had shown that the average joe at the time was treated like a 3rd class citizen like he was, then maybe it would have been easier to understand why this event grabbed so many Quebecers.
In any case, the best part of the movie was, for me, the performance of Stephen McHattie as the coach. I hope he gets an award for the job he did. You understood that he wasn't part of those anglos that wanted to put down the francophones, but that in his heart, he was a good guy trying to have the best team. While he drove Richard as a character, his performance as an actor made his character likable and you never felt he was mean spirited. A great acting job.
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