Documentary focuses on football, family and fortitude in Pahokee

Filmmakers have once again ventured to The Glades. Drawn at first by Pahokee High’s fabled football prowess, they were captured by a larger story of family, pride and community. The result is an 80-minute documentary, “Outta the Muck”, that is making rounds on the independent film circuit and is airing on local PBS stations during Black History Month.

Seeking to offer a “unique narrative of Black achievement” in a community rife with poverty and too often spotlighted for violence, filmmakers Ira McKinley and Bhawin Suchak instead focus their lens on the fiercely self-determined Dean family.

Headed by Bridgett and Alvin, the Deans count seven generations of family with roots growing deep in Pahokee’s rich soil.

More:How Muck City Sports Hall of Fame can serve as inspiration for youth growing up in the Glades

It so happens that McKinley is also a member of the Deans' extended family. His parents met in Pahokee, though he was born and grew up states, if not worlds away.

“If it weren’t for Pahokee, there would be no me. I know that’s my roots. I still got family members — my bloodline starts there,” McKinley says in the movie’s promotional material.

Pahokee's storied history on the grid iron

Pahokee has a knack for creating shining stars, particularly on the football field. Over the decades hundreds of players have left the 33476 zip code to play at colleges well beyond Palm Beach County and dozens of those have gone on to play professionally.

And many return, like the NFL stars who founded Muck Tavern, or those who visit when its comes time for the nationally known high school Muck Bowl played against rivals from Belle Glade.  Others, like Bridgett’s son, Jarvis Byrd, come back to coach football to the next generation.

More on Muck Tavern:NFL greats return to Palm Beach County, open new waterfront restaurant on Lake Okeechobee

McKinley and Suchak came to town in 2016 to watch a New Jersey football team and square off against Pahokee.

The Jersey boys found themselves outmatched, both by their opponents and the oppressive heat and humidity. Players were carted off the field into ambulances left and right in the game that took over four hours to finish.

As the Patriots crumbled 22-7 at the half, the directors' attention shifted.

"Me and Bhawin looked at each other and said, 'Yo, this team is special' — and that was the very first game of their undefeated season," McKinley said.

The pair were so captured by the Blue Devils and the team’s community that McKinley relentlessly scraped together resources to return with film crew in tow multiple times.

The film loosely follows what appears to be a magical season for the Blue Devils, but also spends considerable time off the field and in people’s homes.

Filmmakers have come to Pahokee before, leaving residents leery

"Outta the Muck" features longtime Pahokee residents seeking to dispel what they call “media-driven” narratives that make their home sound like a scary and violent place, while overlooking the community’s hospitality — where residents welcome visitors with homecooked meals and families gather for barbecues.

They point to the docuseries "4th & Forever: Muck City" with its scenes of prison, caution tape and sirens, as examples of the hurtful and incomplete portrayal the residents of Pahokee and The Glades have had to weather.

Having been stung before, they were wary when McKinley’s film crews arrived.

"They had to warm up to us. It took them about two years to really get the feel of us," McKinley said.

Getting the cooperation of residents wasn’t the only challenge.

"We had to raise money to keep going back and forth," said McKinley,  who moved from New York to Pahokee for a stint after filming began.

And that magical season?

About a month after their 34-21 Citrus Bowl win, the Blue Devils were stripped of what would’ve been their seventh state title for fielding an ineligible player. (The win against the New Jersey team that originally brought the filmmakers to town was also forfeited.)

More on that Pahokee title loss:Dave George: State ruling doesn’t erase Pahokee’s memorable season

The decision did not go down well in Pahokee. But in the end, team’s fate wound up on "Outta the Muck" 's cutting room floor.

"I think at the end of the day, we're making a film that's about community, and football essentially is the foundation and backstory of what we're talking about. And if you were in the town, the way that all went down was extremely controversial for them. They completely disagreed — it was almost like they got set up," Suchak said.

The directors said they saw a chance to give pure memories back to a program and community built on overcoming struggle. The film is really about the Dean family and "the connection to that year," Suchak said.

"We're showing you what happened. Like these guys went through the season and they actually ended up winning the game," Suchak said.

McKinley and Suchak hoped to give back in others ways as well. They tried to bring cameras and production equipment to teach students how to archive footage but became tangled in governmental red tape.

Still, the film finds ways to highlight successes. Bridgett Dean, McKinley’s niece, a mother of four, earns her nursing degree at age 55. The camera also turns to the annual memorial remembering the victims of the 1928 hurricane, while celebrating survivors such as now-98-year-old Ethel Williams.

The film travels into the locker room to capture a speech from Alvin Dean, McKinley's nephew and Bridgett's brother, who says growing up football was all he had.

Growing up in a dope house, Dean said he knew the sport was his "ticket" to changing his life. He passes that drive down to Alvin Jr.  A child at the time of filming, Alvin Jr. is now a freshman cornerback at West Liberty University in West Virginia.

"Pahokee is remote. They need better resources. I remember in the '60s and '70s and they had much more," McKinley said.

"What's so incredible about this place, it's literally 40 miles west of West Palm and it's a completely different environment. I think that's part of where that pride and resilience come from; it's a different form of life. You don't have access to all those things that the people in West Palm have, which is still the same county, and so you have to learn how to survive," Suchak said.

"This is how people in Pahokee have been living for over a hundred years now because they have been so isolated," Suchak said.

How to watch

Easy to access, there's no subscription or account needed to see the film, which can be streamed online for free via PBS Independent Lens for a limited time.

"Outta the Muck" premiered for public viewing on Feb. 6 as part of PBS' Black History Month programming.

"Some of the most powerful feedback is people saying, 'Wow. That's a place I grew up and I never took pride in my community, but now I have that pride,' " Suchak said of the response to the film, which won the Soul of Southern Film Award at the Indie Memphis Film Festival.

"For us, it's for people to look at their own communities and find the love and resilience and togetherness and build on that," Suchak said. "We're taught so much in this American culture to be individualistic and materialistic, and to me, this is a radical look at a community that rejects that way of living and looks to each other."

"It's not that people are just looking to constantly find what's out here," Suchak said. "It's 'What do we have here?'"

Emilee Smarr is the high school sports reporter for the Palm Beach Post. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Pahokee documentary now streaming, playing to film festival audiences