Friday, September 24, 2010

Waiting For Superman

I am surrounded by people in the helping vocations. My Father and brother are pastor’s, my Mother is a nurse, my wife and my brothers wife are teachers (one in inner city LA at a school featured in the film, both a part of Los Angeles Unified School District), and I worked as a school based therapist in inner city Los Angeles (essentially a Clinical Social Worker). My experience and family environment have informed me and colored my biases about the problems of education - especially in areas where poverty and immigration create challenges for teachers. I have been and am presently surrounded by people in the trenches of the education war.


I was cautious going into “Waiting For Superman” due to its director – Davis Guggenheim. He is responsible for “An Inconvenient Truth,” a film that has polarized while igniting a political fire. On the other hand, his most recent film “It Might Get Loud” inspired me to play music again, and as a result I started a band for the first time in 9 years. To say that Guggenheim’s films leave an impact is an understatement. He gets people to talk.


“Waiting For Superman” chronicles the failure of the public education system. He cites several sources for blame, among these issues are Teacher’s Union’s, lack of accountability, and bureaucracy. The film tells the stories of several children from various neighborhoods in the United States, all but one of whom are from what appear to be low income areas. The film chronicles these children and their family’s journey’s to get kids into Charter, boarding, and other advancement level schools. Meanwhile, several administrators, teachers, and parent’s are given the opportunity to speak up on the issue.


As a film, it looks slick and moves at a good pace in spite of a long running time (the version I saw was 120 minutes long). The students themselves are the highlights – their candid comments and truthful expressions leave an immediate impression. However, for the genre of documentary, this feels less like a documentation of a problem and more like a message movie. My main problem is that Guggenheim plays mostly on his side of the fence and doesn’t present both sides of the arguments.

The main example is with regards to the argument made about tenure and the Union’s power. In the film, we see student captured video of teacher’s getting paid by the state to do little more than babysit as kids play craps and socialize during what is supposed to be classroom instruction. We learn that these teachers got fired as a result of the video. However, we also learn that not only did these teachers get their jobs back a year later, they were back paid for a year’s worth of not teaching. It’s maddening. In addition, Guggenheim alleges that Teacher’s Unions are the most powerful in DC, and have given more money than any other group to Democratic candidates for office. The film appears to allege that a dollar to the Union is a dollar to a Democrat.


But, Guggenhiem never interviews Union members, nor does he spend much time interviewing the teacher’s themselves. What do Union leaders think of his arguments about tenure? What about the pressures teacher’s face to appease unreasonable parent’s (something I have witnessed first hand), peer pressure from card carrying Union members (“side with us, or we won’t be helping you out anymore”), or the natural problems of many “failure factories?” Like, how do you address the fact that students are bringing English written homework home to parents who are monolingual Spanish speaking? What about the devastating effects of poverty – that some elementary and middle school aged children are forced to work because they would rather have food to eat as opposed to doing their homework?


My last social criticism of the film is in Guggenheim’s conclusions. He doesn’t look at the parent’s and make them take responsibility for their children’s performance. True – he does chronicle and we do see parent’s helping their children do homework and fight for the lottery system, but he sees the problem strictly through the lens of the school system itself. Agreed – the school system is a giant mess. However, parent’s have to follow up on their children’s homework, provide accountability at home, and support teachers who at times don’t give their children “good” grades. The school can’t do the parenting part, and Guggenheim’s neglect to confront this is curious, if not frustrating.


That’s a lot of criticisms, but what about the positive? Well, there’s a huge amount to give – this film will provoke you. You will feel sad, you will laugh, and you will be left asking the question “what can I do to help?” On these merits, the film is successful. The film also knows how to balance entertainment with information. His bottom line is glaring – shouldn’t every child be at a school where there are quality teachers who care about the students and do a good job? Why is it that some children get to by chance enter lottery schools, while the rest get the crummy ones? Shouldn’t each child have an equal share of the same slice of educational opportunity? Additionally, Guggenheim’s statistics hurt. The United States is producing 120+ million skilled labor jobs, but due to the poor academic performance of our schools, but we are only producing 50 million qualified students. The labor is being filled elsewhere, because across the globe, we are being beat.


I could continue writing, which I suppose is high praise to the film. See it with your family and think about it. Discuss it – education is the vital component of our nation. But think critically about it – how do you hold your child accountable? How do you support your child’s teachers? My wife saw the film with me and she was engaged wholeheartedly. She later commented that she felt the film could have been even longer. She is right – there is so much ground to cover in a conversation about education. But then again, if I have learned anything over the years, it’s that she is always right.

Friday, September 17, 2010

The Town

On my facebook page, I am part of a group called “Ben Affleck sucks as an actor.” My friend Ezra made the page around the time Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were media magnets, and the backlash was massive. But then a curious thing happened – Affleck made the outstanding noir thriller “Gone Baby Gone.” It worked because “Gone Baby Gone” was anchored by what Affleck appears to know well – Boston. In addition, the performance onscreen by his brother Casey is among my favorites in the genre.


For the unfortunately named “The Town,” Affleck returns to a different neighborhood in Boston to tell a story that is less about mystery, and more about heist. Affleck stars as Doug, a hockey flunkey who makes a living robbing banks with longtime friend James (played wonderfully by Jeremy Renner) and 2 newcomers to their crew – Albert and Desmond. Things get all tricky when Rebecca, a bank manager, gets taken hostage by James during one of the heists. Soon after she is let go, Doug begins to “bump” into her around town. During this, the FBI starts to close in on Doug’s crew, all of which tests relationships and decisions within the bunch.


Heist films are a favorite of mine, especially older ones. Heist characters often having me on their team hoping they get their score, which is hard to do seeing as these characters aren’t usually “good” guys. The best parts of these types of films are the planning and casing of the scene of the future crime, the character tensions as the planning happens, and the tension existing in the heist itself. Each heist film I see will always be filtered through Rififi and Le Samourai – two masterpieces of the genre. They both feature nail biting heist sequences with no music, jump cuts, or fast pacing. They are beautifully tense, wonderfully shot, and feature rich characters.


Where “The Town” succeeds is in the characters, most of whom are interesting, with the one let down being FBI Agent Adam Frawley, played by Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” fame. I am not sure where to point the finger, but Hamm appears to be either poorly directed or underutilized. We never sympathize with his character because his role is played in a flash, and with limited emotional range. However, Affleck is great, and he disappears into his role and character. Better yet, Jeremy Renner adds another notch in his belt after his turn in “The Hurt Locker.” I have to give Ebert credit for mentioning this in his review, but there is one scene where Renner has to play restrained and playful. The scene is so tense and uneasy, it is a testament to the ingredients of the film – writing, story, direction, and acting.


However, for all its positive qualities (and there are many) “The Town” disappoints in other key areas. I have a fairly critical reaction to how the film concludes, because it does not seem true to the events on screen. I wish I could say more, but to do so would be to spoil (comment below to discuss). Additionally, some of the plot points become a tad muddy. Why does James sister show up at convenient plot points, and what is she there for? Same with Fergus (the head of…the local mafia?) who appears briefly, but always appears threatening. Lastly – it’s okay to slow it down in these types of films. Let the tension build more, no need to rush through.


Nonetheless, “The Town” is a solid, recommendable heist flick that both enjoys and rejects cliché’s of the genre (thankfully there are no major plot twists in the end). The film certainly earns its R rating due to sexual content, strong violence and language, but it feels true to these characters and their world. Overall, “Gone Baby Gone” is a stronger film in terms of its coherence and depth (especially the fantastic moral dilemma). Still, “The Town” is great at times, and certainly worth seeing in the theaters. So – Melville, Dassin, Affleck? No, not yet. But I do think I need to unsubscribe from my Ben Affleck sucks group on Facebook.