Movie Review: Won't Back Down

As I was sitting at home this evening, lounging on my sofa in front of my TV, and relishing in the fact that I don’t have to tutor tomorrow, I decided to peruse the current Pay Per View listings. Low and behold, Won’t Back Down had an early release and since I’d heard mixed reviews about it, decided to see what it was about. (It’s a “teacher movie” and I’m a teacher…can you blame me?)

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie scene, Won’t Back Down was a movie that was released back in September that met disappointing box-office numbers and even worse reviews. Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight and Mona Lisa Smile) and Viola Davis (The Help and Eat Pray Love), Wont’ Back Down tells the story of two determined parents that will fight against all odds to get their children the education they believe they deserve. Set at an inner city school in Pittsburg, the movie chronicles the challenges of Gyllenhaal’s character – a single mother, working two jobs in order to provide for her third grader – whose attempts to get her failing child into a different classroom and school fall on deft ears. Along the way she meets Davis’ character – a third grade teacher at her child’s elementary school – who is also searching for an alternative school choice for her young son. The two women band together in an effort to get both parents and teachers alike on board and ready to take on the teacher’s union and the dissenting school board.

Photo courtesy of Walden Media

The movie’s premise is based on parent trigger laws – laws that enable parents to change the administration and staffing of failing and under-performing schools and essentially “take over” the school in question. (Prior to this film, I knew very little about such laws but after reading more about them after watching this movie, found out that my home state, California, was the first state to pass such legislation back in 2010.)

Overall, I thought the movie was moving and I applauded the tenacity and drive of the two main characters. Fully aware that Walden Media’s major backer is a money man who’s pro-school reform, I thought the movie touched on some relevant topics that I, as a teacher, face on a daily basis – teacher union bureaucracy, the pitfalls of teacher tenure (i.e. protecting bad teachers), and parent/teacher collaboration…or lack thereof. Although the film wasn’t all “union bashing,” they made one point very clear: teacher unions are failing both the teachers they serve and the students and families that ultimately employ them (because without the families and students, teachers wouldn’t have jobs).

Photo courtesy of Walden Media

I just wish that more parents were like the two depicted in the film. I’m lucky if I get ¼ of my families in for Back to School Night or Open House…let alone a parent who wants to consistently volunteer and help out in my classroom. Many parents are uneducated – especially when it comes to special education – and they aren’t sure how to help their child, which does them a huge disservice when the student is not getting an education fit for them. And God forbid that the school district or administrators would actually give them information that might help them! Yet, I risk my job security when I attempt to do what is in the best interest of the child.

Schools are failing and, unfortunately, one teacher speaking her mind is not going to move mountains. Schools do need change – desperately – but it needs to be strategic, district-wide, explicit and it needs to start with the men and women who are in positions of leadership and power.