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'Paterno' movie a polarizing story with unanswered questions

Credit: Atsushi Nishijima/HBO via The Associated Press
In this image released by HBO, Al Pacino portrays Joe Paterno in a scene from "Paterno," a film about the late Penn State football coach. The HBO movie directed by Barry Levinson debuts April 7.

"Paterno" aims to tell the polarizing story of a legend's fall, when the most essential question can never be answered.

The HBO movie directed by Barry Levinson debuts Saturday and stars Oscar winner Al Pacino as Joe Paterno, the Penn State coach whose career ended in scandal.

The movie chronicles a two-week stretch during the fall of 2011, starting with Penn State beating Illinois for the record 409th victory of Paterno's career through the arrest of former longtime assistant coach Jerry Sandusky to the first game played by Penn State after Paterno was fired.

The charges against Sandusky, who is serving a 30- to 60-year prison sentence for sexual abuse of 10 boys, led to questions about what Paterno knew about Sandusky.

"You're dealing with certain issues that are never going to be totally explained," Levinson told the AP recently.

Paterno was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after he was fired on Nov. 9, 2011. He died January 22, 2012, at age 85.

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