Movie #5: Chalk (2006, Mockumentary)
Most movies about teachers completely fall short of reality. This is not one of them. Of course, this is a very sharp, current satire … but the writer/director must have been a teacher himself or must be very close with at least one, because wow. So, so true. So many times, I found myself remembering similar situations from my own first (and second, third, fourth and fifth) year of teaching.
What is very nice is that this movie pokes fun at the modern school environment without mentioning the fact that our kids are completely over-tested (which is truly an important issue, but it gets a lot of airtime – and issues like teacher happy hour and awkward relationships with colleagues, parents and students affect me a lot more on a day-to-day basis). I’m not a huge fan of handheld camera shots and wish that overall production value was higher … but the writing and acting are fantastic. One of my personal favorites scenes would have to be the School Spelling Hornet, where teachers have to spell slang. Amazing.
Final Score: A
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