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This Weekend’s Film Festival – The Power of Education 200

4 11 2009

This Weekend’s Film Festival is a follow-up to the July 30, 2008 edition — The Power of Education. In this second course, we get another look at the power of language. There’s a story of a white teacher trying to teach inner city kids. Then there’s one where one of those kids plays a black teacher trying to teach inner city kids. Then a French teacher tries to teach inner city kids from various ethnic backgrounds. And finally a drug-addicted white teacher tries to inspire inner city kids. While there are similar plot lines to many of this week’s films, the films couldn’t be more different. Prepared to be inspired.

I don’t think education is the first thing that comes to mind when people think of George Cukor’s MY FAIR LADY. However, it’s one of the most pure. The story chronicles the education of one willing student by one eager teacher. In the end, the student teaches the instructor equally valuable lessons about being a decent human being. As I said in my original review, “What I took away from the film is that even with rough edges, Eliza was always a better human being than Henry Higgins; only the world couldn’t see it that way. Henry represents that world. And like the world, Henry won’t admit it, because what would that say about proper society?” As always, Audrey Hepburn is electric as Eliza Doolittle, a guttersnipe trained to speak like a princess. Rex Harrison is equally brilliant as the boorish Henry Higgins, who believes his education makes him better than people. In these two wonderfully constructed performances, accompanied by classic songs, this Oscar-winning film shows how education can transform people in both good and bad ways, and how society judges us accordingly.

Richard Brooks’ BLACKBOARD JUNGLE is credited as kicking off the subgenre of the inspirational teacher movie. Driven by the first rock ‘n roll soundtrack, the film follows newbie teacher Richard Dadier (Glenn Ford) as he takes a job in an inner-city school, where the students have no use for the lessons he has to teach. Two students stick out. Gregory Miller (Sidney Poitier) is a born leader, who Dadier sees more potential in than the black teen gives himself. Artie West (Vic Morrow) is a thief, who basically uses school as recruiting grounds for his criminal enterprises. He’s found a profession that pays, so what can Dadier teach him? As I said in my original review, “Ford gives a powerful performance going from a nervous rookie on his first day to a man willing to fight for the education of the kids who really want to learn.” The film doesn’t try to downplay the harsh realities these students face, and how those realities often clash with the priorities of their teachers. BLACKBOARD JUNGLE set the stage for the issues similar films would address time and again.

Twelve years after BLACKBOARD JUNGLE, Sidney Poitier stepped behind the teacher’s desk for James Clavell’s TO SIR, WITH LOVE. He plays Mark Thackeray, an engineer who takes a teaching job at an inner-city London school when he can’t find work in his field. Unlike the students in JUNGLE, these teens are mainly unruly and undisciplined, coming from families that don’t value education. Led by the troublemaker Bert Denham (Christian Roberts), the students push Thackeray to the breaking point, which is when he realizes that the best way to gain respect is to give respect. He transforms his class into an education on proper citizenship where being an adult means more than simply leaving school. In addition to violent boys, he must deal with the crush of Pamela Dare (Judy Geeson), a girl too young to realize that looking like a woman and being a woman are not one in the same. With his signature grace, Poitier crafts Thackeray as a conservative gentlemen whose lessons on the harsh decisions of life don’t always go down smoothly with his students. As I said in my original review, “The film touches on race a bit, but the film is mostly a tale of class. So who would be better in the middle of that story than the master of class, Sidney Poitier?”

Laurent Cantet’s Cannes-winning THE CLASS takes a documentary-like look at the real challenges that all teachers face. Real-life teacher Francois Begaudeau plays a version of himself as he sets out to teach a new class of inner-city students, but what ultimately becomes a battle of wills. Cantet worked with Begaudeau and a group of real students for a year to craft the scenes and characters. “Cantet’s approach to the film results in a patient story that lets scenes build. In doing so, the film naturally captures how classes can quickly spiral out of control,” to quote my original review. Lessons can swiftly turn into arguments about a number of touchy issues such as class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender. Begaudeau’s character has good intentions for all his students, but the film shows how point of view can turn innocent situations into heated encounters. THE CLASS is truly a film from the teacher’s point of view. The students have lives and problems from outside the classroom, but the teacher doesn’t know the full story, so they have to do the best they can with the information they are granted.

“Combining the inspirational inner city teacher tale with a drug abuse story, HALF NELSON bucks all the stereotypes of the similar tales that came before, ” to quote my original review. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s film relies heavily on the central performances of Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps. Gosling plays Dan Dunne, an unconventional middle school teacher who is also a semi-functional crack addict. When one of his basketball players, Drey (Epps), catches him smoking in the bathroom, the two form an unusual student-teacher connection. Unlike any other teacher film, HALF NELSON drives home the effect a good teacher and a bad teacher can have on students. When Dunne is clean, he is an inspiring figure for his students, but when his life starts to spiral out of control, he becomes dangerous. Drey might put on a tough front, but she’s still a kid trying to cope with the world around her. The only problem is she has drug dealers as neighbors and a brother in prison. She looks up to her teacher, so how will his life influence hers?

To sign up for this class simply head to the video store, update the Netflix queue, check out HelloMovies.com for streaming sites, visit Zap2It.com for TV listings, or help out the site by purchasing the films on DVD or Blu-ray at the links below.