ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the figure of the good man by analyzing Kurt Kuenne's Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008) and Academy-award winner Undefeated (2011), directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin. Kuenne's deeply emotional documentary is an elegy celebrating the life of his friend Dr. Andrew Bagby, tragically murdered, aged only twenty-eight, by his estranged girlfriend, Shirley Turner, who subsequently also murdered their baby, Zachary. Kuenne uses his film to grieve his lost friend and his baby son, paying homage to Andrew's goodness and empathy, but leaving unanswered the question of what made him vulnerable to his lethal predator. Undefeated tells another story about vulnerability, that of three black high-school football players, aided in their struggles by white coach Bill Courtney. Bonding thanks to Courtney's open use of emotion, the players benefit from this white man's generosity towards them, until he realizes that his own sons also need him. Lindsay and Martin deal beautifully with intimacy among men but neglect in the process crucial race issues that today affect Courtney's role as ‘white savior’.
