Drama, History, Family  •  2025  •  103 min

Raising the Bar: The Alma Richards Story (2025)

Raising the Bar: The Alma Richards Story poster

Raising the Bar: The Alma Richards Story (2025)


Rating & Dimensions

Bias Rating
Analyzing...
Traditional
Political: Leans Right
Diversity: Low
Family Values: Leans Traditional
Christianity: Positive

Viewer Rating
7.7

Overview

Biographical sports drama chronicling the early life of Alma Richards, an eighth-grader in 1908 who quits school for ranch work but returns to education after meeting a professor, discovering his high jump talent and Olympic potential. Directed and written by T.C. Christensen, starring Paul Wuthrich as Alma Richards, with Walter Platz and Alesandra Durham.


Starring Cast

Paul Wuthrich  •   Walter Platz  •   Paul Cartwright


Where to watch

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Apple TV logoApple TV
Google Play logoGoogle Play
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Detailed Bias Analysis

Analyzing...
Traditional

Primary

Political: Leans Right
Confidence: High

The film champions overcoming adversity through personal faith, diligent effort, and family backing, embodying conservative principles of self-reliance and moral integrity.

Diversity: Low
Confidence: High

The film employs traditional casting reflective of its historical Mormon pioneer setting, with a predominantly white ensemble. Its narrative delivers an uplifting underdog sports story focused on perseverance and faith, presenting traditional identities in a positive light without incorporating DEI critiques or diverse representations.

Secondary

Family Values: Leans Traditional
Confidence: High

This rousing sports biopic suits family co-viewing with tweens and up, gently uplifting through its depiction of a humble Mormon family's supportive role in the protagonist's journey. Traditional values shine via faith-guided perseverance and community bonds, presented warmly without critique.

Christianity: Positive
Confidence: High

The film depicts the protagonist's Christian faith as a vital source of perseverance, moral integrity, and triumph, shown through prayer and dedication to God amid athletic challenges.

LGBTQ: N/A
Confidence: Low

The film contains no identifiable LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

Trans: N/A
Confidence: High

The film offers no depiction of transsexual characters or themes. Alma Richards' biographical arc as an Olympic athlete focuses on perseverance and achievement without engaging transgender identity.

Female Combat: N/R

The movie does not contain any action or adventure elements.

Gender Swap: No
Confidence: High

The biopic depicts Alma Richards and supporting historical figures as male, consistent with documented records, with female roles cast accordingly and no evidence of gender alterations for any canonical characters.

Race Swap: No
Confidence: High

The biopic depicts Alma Richards, a historically white Utah athlete, portrayed by Paul Wuthrich without racial alteration, and supporting characters align with their real-life ethnic backgrounds, resulting in no race swaps.


Viewer Rating Breakdown

7.7

Viewer Rating

Combines user and critic ratings from four sources

User Ratings

IMDB logo
7.1
The Movie Database logo
8.2

Critic Ratings

Rotten Tomatoes logo
N/A
Metacritic logo
N/A

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