I will see “Won’t Back Down” soon, I promise.
I don’t want to, but I will do it because I have to.
Meanwhile, movie reviewers are rendering their judgment.
They say it is a lousy movie.
The best lines so far are in the review in the Los Angeles Times:
That’s because unions turn out to be the most pernicious of all the obstacles to healthy schools, worse even than the stick-in-the-mud school board. While no one, not even unions themselves these days, denies that there are things that must be changed about how they operate, the notion of them as total evil only makes perfect sense to companies that believe in unionless, private charter schools that increase profits by paying teachers whatever they can get away with…
Though the film’s pernicious propagandistic bias is irritating and misleading, it can’t be overemphasized that what is really wrong with this film is how feeble it is dramatically. When Nora is trying to decide if she should work with Jamie, she remembers her mother’s question: “What are you going to do with your one and only life?” Anyone who values their one and only life would be well-advised not to spend two hours of it here.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Right on!
The media is waking up!
I think we need an education propaganda film festival — sort of like a live MST3000, where we can kibitz while we watch.
That is a great idea!
Here’s another review from today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel arts section: http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/movies/wont-back-down-flunks-constructive-approach-to-education-reform-586v70m-171612881.html
Great review, but did you see the comments?
A “review” from Madison, WI Mayor Paul Soglin (who has promised to work to have the Conference of Mayors endorsement of the Parent Tricker rescinded): http://www.waxingamerica.com/2012/09/wont-back-down-lie-after-lie.html
Years ago there was a movie called Reefer Madness that caused marijuana to be banned. Before that there was one about the KKK that resulted in a lot of lynchings and the Jim Crow laws. It was before my time. Hopefully Americans are more intelligent than to believe everything they see in the media nowadays, but then you see what Fox News can do and you wonder. I think America would benefit from a counter-video. Do teachers have any really rich supporters who could do something like this. If an anti-muslim video could start riots in the middle east, could an anti-charter video wake up America?
It’s a shame too. I really like Viola Davis as an actress.
Dana Goldstein has a review in the Nation, but what she says on her blog is even more telling (in my view):
“But actually, as I watched ‘Won’t Back Down,’ I had the sense it had been written by some sort of committee, so painstakingly does the screenplay repeat the overused talking points we hear again and again in debates over school accountability and choice.”
(http://www.danagoldstein.net/dana_goldstein/2012/09/hollywood-and-the-politics-of-school-reform.html)
I haven’t seen the film and will not. I don’t get out to the movies often; when I do, I want it to be for something better than this.
The Deseret News in Salt Lake City has positive reviews of the movie, too. Not to mention, several other opinion and “fact” articles to go with it. I was disgusted at the fawning treatment of the movie (the paper gave it three stars and called it inspiring). I am going to be writing a letter with my concerns to the paper.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765607719/Teaching-moments-of-the-new-Wont-Back-Down-film.html
This opinion article compares “Won’t Back Down” to Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” for “exposing education’s embrace of failure.” It’s nauseating.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765607523/Wont-Back-Down-exposes-educations-embrace-of-failure.html
Ha! The last line of this review is the best!
My favorite review is the review from the NY Post (http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/high_marks_for_class_act_m1XKRvqv40SHl6465eD0HN ) whose reviewer loved the movie. The review is so over the top, it’s actually kind of funny–
Here are a few of my “favorite” lines from the newspaper that loves to bash teachers:
1. “The Silence of the Lambs,” for instance, made little effort to be fair to serial killers, nor did “Independence Day” lay out the point of view of the aliens. But I’m being unfair. Serial killers and alien armies, unlike teachers’ unions, don’t destroy the dreams of millions of poor black kids.
2. Still, I haven’t seen a timelier or more important film this year, and the film’s passion for school choice could hardly be more warranted. Along with documentaries such as “The Lottery” and “Waiting for ‘Superman,’ ” the film comes with a background sound of the ice of inertia cracking.
3. We hear all the standard rationalizations for why parents should have no choice in where their kids go to school. Poverty and crime are mentioned as factors in failing schools, and “Won’t Back Down” points out that most members of teachers unions are good and competent people. There are several speeches about how unions are “under attack” (if so, how come so many kids are still attending awful unionista schools?
4. A critical discussion about education reform is finally happening among liberals (conservatives have long known better, of course) such as the union-loving teacher in the film who plasters his classroom with images of Jimmy Carter (!) and teaches his kids to rap JFK’s inaugural address. If we are really interested in acting, as the politicians keep saying, “for the children,” that means demanding accountability from the unions that purport to care about their pupils.
This is supposed to be a film review, but the NY Post turns it into another anti-teacher, anti-union paean…..
I think that this is the only positive review I found of the film, by the way….the NY Daily News hated the film, but also wrote:
Few would argue that we need to fix our public school system or that too many adults put their own interests above those of children. So it’s especially disappointing that Barnz and Hill have learned nothing from the dedicated teachers they want to honor. Shoving your own opinions down someone’s throat — no matter how valid they may be — is less likely to educate than to alienate.
Republican billionaire Philip Anschutz produced both this movie and the infinitely superior “Waiting for Superman,” one of several recent documentaries on public education. Others include “American Teacher” and “The Lottery,” and all should be considered essential viewing for concerned citizens — starting with the misguided makers of “Won’t Back Down.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/movie-review-back-article-1.1169540#ixzz27oWMW8ei
And I thought the stuff in my newspaper was bad!
Maggie Gyllenhaal talks unions, education and motherhood
http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/movies/20120928_Maggie_Gyllenhaal_talks_unions__education_and_motherhood.html
How ironic that in this interview she talks about her concern about uneducated people making bad political choices. It is obvious she joined the media generated corporate reform bandwagon with no awareness of the issues involved and the agenda of the producers of the movie.
Maybe some actors will learn from this and start looking at themselves as more than someone emoting and parroting lines and pay attention to the art they are producing and its affect on society.
Actually my favorite recent teacher movie is Detachment with Adrian Brody.
Best new movie about a real school:”Brooklyn Castle.” An urban middle school with a championship chess team. Fabulous. I’ll be reviewing it.
Diane
Reblogged this on Transparent Christina.
Thanks for watching this stuff so the rest of us don’t have to. I only hope you don’t have to invest eight bucks. If this costs you anything, let me know, and I’ll donate the equivalent to Class Size Matters. Maybe all your readers could do so.
I won’t be seeing it, either. Great idea! Ithink we should all donate the price of the ticket to an anti-rheeform organization.
When Nora is trying to decide if she should work with Jamie, she remembers her mother’s question: “What are you going to do with your one and only life?” Anyone who values their one and only life would be well-advised not to spend two hours of it here.
That quote is a bad imitation from the poet Mary Oliver. Their crap is not even original. NPR had a review yesterday as well, not too favorable etiher.