Btexxamar
I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Jakoba
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Billy Ollie
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
raju-surya39
Although the movie goes around without a proper plot the movie is worth watching only for Brilliant Acting of the Adrien Brody...
goatbillhicks-07272
Excellent performances all round. Great cast. Interesting subject matter. However, it feels like the film is designed for the people holding the purse strings in the education system. "More funding please"
Unlike the many similar 'teacher tries to save a group of wayward kids' films. This is squarely from the teacher's point of view, particularly Adrien Brody's character, following his daily struggles inside and outside school life.
At times it is slow, focuses on the bleak and apparently unwinnable battle the teachers face. And is no more positive in it's hopes for the future of the students. All of this is quite deliberate but tiring.
At times the plinky plonky sad piano and slow motion is a little over the top.
I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.
I admire it's attempt more than it's execution. 6.7 stars.
kevandeb
This film should be mandatory viewing for any child, parent and educator. The chest crushing weight of expectation, oppression and the 24/7 bombardment of how we should look, behave and conform is outlined brilliantly in this movie. Clearly showing on all sides that which is not understood from differing factions. Adrian Brody is yet again, excellent and really is an underrated actor. This is the 2nd film of his I have seen this month and in both (Manhattan Night) he captures the mood better than any other actor I can think of. These are my kind of films, dark, compelling and the characters absorbing and interesting. The highest praise I can give this is that it would sit well with any European cinematic effort.
R S
I for a couple of years have been pondering a life as a teacher, having recently graduated from college with only bleak ideas of what to do in this world. This film singlehandedly convinced me not to teach, for I have not the courage to deal with the insoluble challenge that is the American educational environment. I say with no restraint that this is the starkest picture of our underfunded, largely forgotten, malnourished school system I've ever seen. The problems portrayed are real, the solutions unclear, and the teachers thrown into the mosh to deal with it receive little to no support. This country needs to get its act together, but I must confess I don't know how.Reading more might help.