Dangerous Minds. Film Review

The title of the film I’m to tell you about is Dangerous Minds, directed by John N. Smith. Having been released in 1995. It is distinguished by its selected cast - Michelle Pfeiffer as Luanne Johnson, George Dzundza as Hal Griffith,  Courtney B. Vance as George Grande,  Robin Bartlett as Carla Nichols.What is worth mentioning is the real background for the film. It is an American drama film based on the autobiography ‘My Posse Don't Do Homework’ by former U.S.

An ex-marine, LouAnne Johnson, decides to become a teacher, she is given a class of problem teens. They don’t respect her at the beginning. But she determines to have them trust and respect her. Her teaching methods are inventive. She bribes them with candy bars and free trips to amusement parks, and involves them in the words of that important poet, Bob Dylan. Along with helping her students with school work, she also provides emotional support to several students, including a couple of wise-cracking boys who are too caught up in street politics for their own good, and a teen who's dealing with the reality of being pregnant in high school. Although she intends to leave at the end of the year, the students quote the lyrics of a Dylan Thomas poem that they learned and insist that she's their "light" and refuse to let her leave them. She agrees to stay.

Pfeiffer does her best to make LouAnne urgent and earthy.  I thought that Michelle did a wonderful job, and it's a very inspirational movie.  I like how the writers had Michelle's character constantly talk about choices. She showed how everything we do and say is our choice. We may not have choices that we like (which she stated) but everything in life is a choice

I am amazed to know that it is bases on a true story and what catches my attention is that the teacher in question doesn’t belong to that profession: she is a discharged and unemployed USMC officer. I’m impressed by the way Luanne made the teens listen to her. She could find the way with her students, getting them such kind of literature that can interest them. It is 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, a bright girl who believes she's thrown away her future when she becomes pregnant; Emilio, a macho bully whose violence is stifling his academic potential; and Raul, the brightest kid in the class, who is afraid to show his intelligence.

This film impressed me greatly. I could find something special for myself in such thought provoking film. It makes me think over the fact that we must never give up. It is really worth watching.
(474 words)