Won't Back Down (2012)

Very well executed

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is a single mother whose pre-teen daughter is doing badly at her public school because of that daughter's dyslexia. Viola Davis is one of the few caring teachers who can relate to this mother because her son is similar. So they decide to team together to try to change the school. Based on actual events, this was quite a compelling drama about trying to get better lives for their children and the struggles they go through. I'm sure not everything depicted here was true but dramatically, it mostly was compellingly told as we see these two women hold on to whatever sanity they can muster. Also liked the supporting turns by Holly Hunter as a school administrator and Rosie Perez as a fellow teacher. So on that note, I recommend Won't Back Down.

There are movies that come along based on inspirational stories and usually manage to deliver just on the story itself. When you give them a bit of a budget and some great actors then you have the possibility of creating something special. The latest film takes on the rarely talked about in film issue of education in Won't Back Down. With Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis leading the way could there be any chance this film doesn't work? Won't Back Down follows two determined mothers whose children are failing in an inner city school, who team up to take back the school and turn it into a place of learning. Before they are able to change the school, they have to battle the parents, school board, and teachers union. While this isn't an actual true story like a lot of these films, it is based on various incidents of its kind. They don't break any molds or do anything that hasn't been done in some way before, but what is refreshing is who is under fire in this story, the education itself as opposed to those struggling to learn. The performances are all great and the movie works fine, but there is just something missing that most of these films have to really suck you in and that's that moment where those fighting the losing battle deliver a memorable moment that turns things around. Most likely trying to shove that into this story would have felt forced and cliché, it just lacked that needed punch to add the extra passion to make the movie step out of just another in a line of inspirational stories.Make no mistake, this is a great movie, but isn't breaking any ground. If you enjoy these sorts of stories then you should check it out. Thanks to the two leads it takes a film that could have been pretty generic and turned it into something really good. If these two great actresses aren't enough to suck you in, the film also sports a great supporting cast as well including Ving Rhames, Holly Hunter, Rosie Perez and Bill Nunn so there is bound to be someone in there to peak your interest.

DVD from my public library. It is "inspired" by real events but there is no way of knowing how much of it is fiction. My wife and I enjoyed it.Set in Pittsburgh, Maggie Gyllenhaal is a single mother Jamie Fitzpatrick. She has a young daughter, in 2nd grade, doing poorly in reading and not getting much sympathy or help from her public school teacher. When Jamie one day comes to the school and asks the teacher if she could spend a few minutes at the end of the day helping her daughter, the teacher responds flatly "School is over at 3PM." Part of that reflects the strong teachers union rules, and part of it is teacher apathy.Jamie is intelligent but not very well educated, partly because of her dyslexia, the same handicap causing her young daughter's difficulties. In her efforts to find a better classroom, or a better school, she learns of a new law which allows teachers and parents to take control of a school via petition to the school board. She is warned that it is an uphill battle, may take years to do, and no guarantee that it will work. But Jamie can't wait years, her daughter needs better instruction now, so she goes about attempting the seemingly impossible. The second key character in this story is Viola Davis as Nona Alberts, one of the teachers who cares about the kids, and who also has a young son with learning difficulties. Jamie has to work very hard to convince her, but eventually and together they move the project forward.Why did we like this movie? The actors bring these characters to life and, even if it didn't really happen this way, it is a good story about the human spirit and the need, everywhere, to focus on the children and their learning. Teachers and their unions are never the prime focus. As the movie says near the end, the meaning of life is to make a difference in the life of a child. We hope it is a positive difference.

Is this movie corny, clichéd, sentimental, etc? Absolutely. Are some of the characters one-dimensional bad guys? Yep. Is it financed by someone with a lot of money who has his own opinion on the subject? Sure. This is true of most of the movies coming out of Hollywood, including "Trouble With the Curve," which isn't getting half the flack this movie is. If you want sophistication and nuance, go see an art house film. If you want to see a heartfelt film that raises questions about education and the future of America's kids, you may want to give this a shot. Some characters are pro-union, others just want what's best for their kids, others change their minds while others don't. Some bureaucrats in the movie are willing to help; others flatly refuse. That's also true in real life, and all these viewpoints are represented in "Won't Back Down."Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a blue-collar single mom who decides to try and get support for radical changes for her daughter's elementary school, after trying and failing to get her daughter a better quality education in the current system. Joining her are Viola Davis, a veteran teacher who is beaten down, but not yet fully defeated, and Oscar Isaacs, a hunky "Teach for America" type, who doesn't want to focus on politics, at least at first. Other supporting players include Rosie Perez, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Holly Hunter, who all do a great job with an admittedly TV-movie of the week type plot and script, and I, for one, didn't check my watch once during the film.The standout here is Davis, whose mother was a well-loved teacher, and who goes home and digs out some new material with which to challenge her young students, even before she agrees to the takeover plan. "We're all going to work a lot harder around here," she informs her class. "Including me." It's easier, in my opinion, to play the stereotypical young idealist crusader, whether teacher or parent, but how many movies flesh out the role of the crusty veteran? One message of the film, is that you don't have to wait for someone to change things for you. Even when everything around you is going downhill, an "average" person can still summon the strength to make a change in the quality of someone's life, whether big or small. And that's a message that's always welcome, if you ask me.