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One Eight Seven
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This story is obviously a tragedy. It is SUPPOSED TO BE disheartening, and it is. So any criticism that does not take this into account is off target. (You don't say that "Norbit" was bad because it wasn't sad enough, do you?) <br /> <br />Yes this movie is about a teacher trying to work with poor, often abused, often abusive and dangerous "chicano" students. But this, in my opinion, is far from being its main subject. <br /> <br />This movie depicts a bad social system that, beyond satisfactory explanation, creates even worse results whenever you really try ("hands on," from the inside) to change it for the better. It is about a system in which any deep commitment is far too likely to become suicidal (whether it is commitment to mastering the status quo, as in the case of violent students like Cesar, or commitment to imposing a higher order of things, as in the case of the main character). It is about a system in which survival is more likely either when you become cynical/indifferent (like so many teachers and principals) or when you can channel your insanity through drugs, alcohol (like some teachers and so many students) or, say, a hidden gun fetish (like one of the teachers in this film). It is about a system which it is still far better to escape, and which too few escape (whether they are locked in economically, or emotionally, or whatever). And finally it is a system vis a vis which government forces (represented by the principal) make "containment" the priority, for lack of a sure solution. <br /> <br />For a somewhat similar experience, I recommend the French movie "Hate" ("la haine") by M. Kasovitz (the spelling may be wrong). <br /> <br />The story works very much in the way of many domestic violence stories, except that the subject matter is relatively original (notwithstanding the trend of movies like Pfeiffer's "Dangerous Minds," which are in a passable class of their own) and more complex. And, for that matter, it is more entertaining than any DV story I can imagine. It should be hard to categorize it in traditional "movie terms"--except perhaps "drama," which is a term so broad that it only has a negative meaning anyway (i.e., "not comedy," "not action," etc). Not quite a thriller, and certainly not a mere critique--I don't think it even aimed at being completely realistic. In fact, it is surrealistic at times, but not in a distracting way. So if teachers or chicanos try to appropriate the story and criticize it as not reflecting reality, I think they are off target. If they criticize it because it "suggests" racism, and such--I think they are off target too, because any interesting movie about a touchy subject will suggest a whole lot of stupidity in stupid people. Don't blame the movie for that! I don't pretend to know the motives of the person who wrote the story, but frankly it is essentially irrelevant. (Consider: Even some jews recognize "Triumph of the Will" as a masterpiece to some extent--and Buddha knows how much they disapprove of the motives behind that film!) <br /> <br />The music is also great--suitably atmospheric (and I don't mean in a "Yanni" kind of way). It evokes crisis, anxiety, torment, etc "Urban" but not too "hip hop." Somewhat escapist. More underground than mainstream (even ten years after the first release), yet not "tribalistic" (in the way that non-mainstream urban music can be sometimes). <br /> <br />The only problems with this movie are in the richness of the dialogues--and as someone else mentioned, the development of the characters. Had it been well done in those respects, it would be have been a masterpiece in its own class. The acting is mostly good (SLJ is great).
Viewer Reviews
Many teachers in today's school systems must feel helpless. Years ago there was the threat of corporal punishment, if not the actual fear of parent retaliation. Now, however, children are spoiled, often without strong male-role models (particularly in the more urban areas), there is simply no respect for authority or desire to contribute meaningfully to society, all parents think their child is a perfect little snowflake, and the outlook for a teacher in a troubled area is particularly bleak and hopeless.
Trevor Garfield (Samuel L. Jackson) is a high school teacher who has recently been reassigned as a substitute in a rough, dilapidated LA school district after suffering a shank attack at the hands of one of his former students. Realizing the corrupt, bereaucratic school administration will never help him when the misbehavior and student intimidation begins anew, Garfield is handcuffed by not only rules, but also fear, and the depressing reality that his values and morals are not shared by many of his students, particularly the local gang leaders Benny (Lobo Sebastian) and Cesar (Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez). In no time at all, Garfield - who is immediately immersed in the gang culture when students begin to call him Mr. G, where G is for Gangster - breaks down psychologically and flips from gentle, timid, caring teacher to possessed madman intent on retaliation.
Samuel L. Jackson turns in a powerhouse performance in this movie, showing ghetto schools from a teacher's perspective. The attitude flip is classic Samuel L. Jackson, just as quick as Michael Douglas in Falling Down, but a bit more angry, and the retaliation used on the punk thugs throughout the movie, while over the top, is ingenious.
A teacher until the end, Mr. G proves that Cesar's way of life is meaningless, and instructs that he's willing to quite literally risk everything, to die, if it will provide one last lesson, one last Pyrrhic victory.
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One Eight Seven
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