Movie Title : “Dangerous Minds”
Movie
Review by: William Elfrado Candra. “Special Kids or Special Teacher?”
Many things are happening inside the class,
from the common things to the unexpected ones. I was pretty shock when I saw
this movie, students here are really energetic and obviously they “lost
control”. It’s actually happened really extreme unlike what commonly I see here
in my country. This great movie titled “Dangerous Minds” made in 1995, an American
drama/hood which is based on the autobiography ‘My Posse Don't Do Homework’ by
former U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson,
who took up a teaching position at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California,
in 1989, where most of her students were African-American and Hispanic
teenagers from East Palo Alto, a then-unincorporated town at the opposite end
of the school district.
In this drama, a school teacher discovers
that it takes more than the ABCs to get through to a class of
"uneducatable" kids. When Lou Anne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer), a
nine-year veteran of the Marine Corps with a degree in education, begins a new
job at an inner-city school in California, the principal (George Dzundza) warns
her that her class will be the "rejects from Hell" - kids with severe
social problems and no interest in education. While at first her
African-American and Latino students scoff at Lou Anne, she ultimately gets
them to open up to learning and literature, through a combination of bribery
(candy bars) and intimidation (her karate training from the Marines comes in
handy), and she's able to reach out to the students who need her the most:
Callie (Bruklin Harris), a bright girl who believes she's thrown away her
future when she becomes pregnant; Emilio (Wade Dominquez), a macho bully whose
violence is stifling his academic potential; and Raul (Renoly Santiago), the
brightest kid in the class, who is afraid to show his intelligence.
 |
| Wade Dominquez |
Based on this movie, I could asses that
everybody did their best performance, they act well and really animate their
characters. Especially for Michelle Pfeiffer who took role as Ms. Johnson, she
represented the soul of maternity, she exemplified to every teacher, to give
extra affections to their students, because it is the real moral onus for the
teacher, not only give school materials but also build their students’
personalities. Secondly I appreciate Wade Dominquez who took role as Emilio for
his fascinating acting, he told everybody that he is the real ‘king’ in the
class, he did so charming acting, and it was so natural.
I like the scene where it is being played
the ’Dylan-Dylan Contest’. It was really surprising and unpredictably moment
when the ’uneducatably’ students turns out and start to follow the teacher’s
instructions, they studied poems! They identified every Bob Dylan Songs that is
related to a Dylan Thomas poem. Surprisingly they really do it, and the were
really excited, and in the end three of them which come from the same team won
the contest and get the prize.
The entire movie deals with little, real,
everyday problems and not with the big issues of life. But when teacher
consider how children consider and perceive our world nowadays, it's exactly
what they expect the teachers, the adults, to do as well. That's to say, take
time to explain to students the everyday happenings in their little worlds. Why
mom and dad went their separate ways, why do they have to cope with homework
they cannot understand and so on and so forth. This movie is a teaching lesson
for teachers, not a moralizing or preachy one. It shows us how it should be
done, nothing more. Teachers always want to set standards and a higher example
to the students, but what about teacher’s commitment to give them what they
really want, like: lend students an ear when they talk or a heart when they
feel sorrow. For me teaching is not a simple profession to earn your life, it's
much more than this, it's a mission, a passion, a call, just like the one an
actor or a director have. In my own opinion, "Dangerous Minds" has
amply achieved its goals.
Teachers are suggested to watch this movie
and for the detractors of this tiny movie I would suggest to take a better and
closer look, they might still learn something, but please, take your time and
concentrate on it. This is really not a "Popcorn" and
"Beer" movie.
Scale of 1-5 :
William Elfrado Candra is Karangturi Senior
High School’s student, and at the moment he is on an acceleration program
called SCI, which is going to finish the senior high school time in twop years
only (commonly in Indonesia must be finished in 3 years). He used to play
futsal during in break times, but now he spends more time on basketball. He
also prefer playing music especially playing guitar and sing, he enjoy doing
that interesting things.
