YOU GOTTA BELIEVE Inspiration Wants Movie to ‘Lead People to Christ’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Robert Ratliff wants YOU GOTTA BELIEVE, the movie based on his life and dedicated to his father’s memory, to strengthen people’s faith — in both God and themselves.
YOU GOTTA BELIEVE “is based on the inspiring true story of one team’s transformational journey from district underdog to taking its place in the Little League record books,” the movie’s website reads.
“After dedicating the season to a teammate’s ailing father, a group of underestimated youth baseball players from Fort Worth, Texas, takes its Cinderella run all the way to the 2002 Little League World Series — culminating in a record-breaking showdown that became an instant ESPN classic,” it continues.
A portion of the Movieguide® review reads:
YOU GOTTA BELIEVE is a fantastic addition to the sports drama genre. It has a heartfelt story of perseverance, team camaraderie, and never giving up. The movie is based on the true story of Robert, his father’s battle with cancer, and their amazing Little League run in 2002. YOU GOTTA BELIEVE tells an inspiring, well-structured story with some phenomenal acting. The movie isn’t explicitly faith-based, but it has a brief moment of prayer. However, YOU GOTTA BELIEVE also has several relatively light obscenities and one light humorous innuendo. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger audiences, especially pre-teen children.
Ratliff, whose father was the inspiration for the baseball team’s season and the movie’s story, spoke to THE 700 CLUB about his dad.
“My dad always had a smile. He was obviously going through some intense treatments with melanoma skin cancer. He had a positive attitude…there’s a lot of joy,” he explained. “It gave him a lot of purpose to come to our games and continue to fight his cancer battle. I don’t think I could draw up a better last summer to spend with my dad.”
Ratliff continued, “My memories of my dad are fantastic, and I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re okay with this all happening. We don’t have bad memories. Do we have sad memories? Yeah, of course, but my memories of my dad are just spectacular.”
“He really taught me a lot and he made the most of his time here on Earth and made the most of his time as our dad,” he said.
When asked what he hopes audiences take away from YOU GOTTA BELIEVE, Ratliff spoke about faith.
“If we can strengthen people to believe in God and strengthen people to have a relationship with Christ and lead people to Christ, then that is important,” he explained. “I think we’re hoping people walk away knowing that if they believe, they can accomplish anything they want. We hope that people walk away and they really start to believe, not only in God, but also in themselves.”
Ratliff also spoke to Fort Worth Magazine about YOU GOTTA BELIEVE.
“My dad left us a huge inheritance of great memories,” he shared. “We had a lot of fun, and we learned the importance of always believing and knowing that everything and anything is possible.”
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