Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Claudio Carvalho In London, the twenty-seven year-old hairdresser Rita (Julie Walters) decides to complete her basic education before having children as desired by her husband Denny (Malcolm Douglas). She joins the literature course in an open university and has tutorial with the middle-aged Dr. Frank Bryant (Michael Caine) that is an alcoholic and deluded professor from the upper-class without self-esteem. Frank lives with the also Professor Julia (Jeananne Crowley) and they have a loveless relationship; Julia has a love affair with the dean Brian (Michael Williams). The amusing Rita gives motivation to Frank to prepare her for the exams to join the university while she leaves Denny and moves to the house of the waitress Trish (Maureen Lipman), who loves Gustav Mahler and is a cult woman. Will she succeed in the exams? "Educating Rita" is an unknown little gem with a dramatic and funny story about culture clash and improvement of life status through education. The plot partially recalls the storyline of "Pigmalion" or "My Fair Lady" with the change of behavior of Rita through the education. The screenplay has little details that might be unobserved by the viewer, like for example Frank's bottle of whiskey hidden behind the book "The Lost Weekend" and witty dialogues. The top-notch Michael Caine has one of his best performances in the role of a refined and cultured man without self-esteem that finds motivation in life after finding a simple woman that gives a different perspective view of life for him. Julie Walters is simply fantastic. The result is a very human story of friendship that has not aged. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "O Despertar de Rita" ("The Awakening of Rita")

LisaMihalik_CPUT Mihalik I thoroughly enjoyed Educating Rita. In the opening scenes pre-Rita it seems rather dull and boring whilst we follow the drunk professor Frank, but Rita's arrival introduces comedy and a happier mood. She makes you want to keep watching to see how her life develops and her character evolves as she is educated. It highlights the class system and the stereotypical roles of the sexes. Rita, as an uneducated "common" woman is looked down on by her peers at university and those in her personal life who expect her to have children and stay home to raise a family and play the doting wife to her simpleminded husband. Frank, as an educated man gets away with having a drinking problem because he is considered to be of a higher class and more intelligent.The movie teaches us that education in the academic sense is not necessarily something that will improve your life- gaining life experience and finding yourself is how you become a better and wiser person who is confident and able to stand on your own two feet. Even though Frank is educated he is still not happy and remains a drunk, only finding happiness in his time tutoring Rita before she becomes engrossed in student life and has less time for him. He becomes nasty and realizes she has outgrown him. She becomes less simple but is still unhappy and sets out to try and fix Frank. Thus only when she realizes that she is equal to those around her and not inferior does she realize that she can be happy and stop trying to fit in and care what others think about her. Education is something huge for those who do not have it and very often taken for granted by those who are given it. Rita breaks the mold and in the end it is she herself who educated=s herself and not the university alone.

screenman 'Educating Rita' follows in the grand tradition of British cinematic drama. It is an excellent, if slightly idealised follow-through to the likes of 'Saturday Night & Sunday Morning' or 'A Taste Of Honey', in the way that 'Billy Elliot' was a refinement of 'Kes'.Julie Walters plays the titular Rita. She's a working-class housewife who also does turns as a hairdresser. Her life is going absolutely nowhere. And she feels it. In truth; she is a highly intelligent and talented individual who has been betrayed by the education system. Now, a generation later, she means to try again.Micheal Caine plays the university tutor who finds himself tasked with her learning. He has demons of his own. Long-unresolved issues with an ex-partner and low self-esteem send him to the bottle for comfort.Gradually, a friendship develops between the two. For Caine's character it becomes a little more. But Rita is too self obsessed to notice. She likes her mentor, but she doesn't love him.These two characters dominate this movie. There are some perfectly competent cameos from other British actors, but cameos are all they are. This is a story about two people. There are lots of interesting touches and unexpected turns. Rita finds lodgings with a woman of similar age who possesses all of the wit, charm, and 'posh education' that she herself craves. But yet this woman is unloved, and all of these treasures are no substitute. She attempts suicide. Caine's character possesses them also, yet he is a self-destructive alcoholic. Its message seems to be 'All that glisters...' The ending is neither happy nor sad. It is simply a steadfast resolution in that great British tradition.Walters is so talented that she would give a wonderful turn even without a director. And I personally regard this as Caine's best work. I cannot imagine anyone not thoroughly enjoying this movie. It is, frankly, a belter.Although released in 1983, I'm not certain as to when it is actually supposed to be set. Caine's character is driving a Triumph Herald; that car went out of production in 1971. Also, the airport and the airport protocol look decidedly 60's. So I dunno.But not to worry. Just give it a whizz and watch two British Greats strike sparks off a cracking script and play the devil with all manner of stirring situations.

Jackson Booth-Millard This is a fantastic British film with two fantastic actors, a great setting and story of a close friendship (although some could see it as a near-love story), and from director Lewis Gilbert (Alfie, 3 James Bond films, Shirley Valentine). Dr. Frank Bryant (BAFTA and Golden Globe winning, and Oscar nominated Sir Michael Caine) is the whiskey drinking (almost always drunken) English literature teacher bored with his job and reflecting on his failed marriage and attempt to become a poet. Then one day his world is turned upside down by the arrival of hairdresser Rita, aka Susan (debuting BAFTA (for actress) and Golden Globe winning, and Oscar and BAFTA (for newcomer) nominated Julie Walters) who has decided to take an Open University course. Frank is excited by her observations of things, and her interesting personality. The film mainly sees many discussions they have towards an exam essay, the troubles Rita has to achieving these ambitions of her's, including husband Brian (Michael Williams) who doesn't approve on her education, and their close friendship as she works towards this exam, and Frank just works and makes a fool of himself in his drunken nature. In the end, they are parted by Frank travelling on train to another country, and in the original script they were to have a kiss, but being a teacher-student relationship it would be inappropriate, although a kiss instead of a hug would have been interesting (even if wrong). Also starring BAFTA nominated Maureen Lipman as Trish, Jeananne Crowley as Julia, Malcolm Douglas as Denny, Godfrey Quigley as Rita's Father, Dearbhla Molloy as Elaine, Pat Daly as Bursar, Kim Fortune as Collins, Philip Hurdwood as Tiger, Hilary Reynolds as Lesley, Jack Walsh as Price, Christopher Casson as Professor, Rosamund Burton as Denise and Marcus O'Higgins as Marcus. I really like Caine as a drunken not always caring guy, and Walters' Liverpudlian accent, it creates many of the giggles, well, they both do. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, it won the BAFTA for Best Film, and it was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Foreign Film - England and Best Screenplay. Sir Michael Caine was number 44 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, and he was number 7 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, Julie Walters was number 5 on The 50 Greatest British Actresses, and she was number 2 on Britain's Finest Actresses, and the film was number 13 on The 50 Greatest British Films. Very good!