My Top 10 Teacher Movies

Last Wednesday was Teachers’ Day and almost everyone I know, took out some time out of their busy schedules to show their gratitude towards their teachers. I on the other hand, was busy doing things that I do every day and one of those things is to think about movies. It is not that I am completely ungrateful towards my teachers. I am as grateful towards my teachers (not all of them of course :D) as anyone can be and therefore as a tribute to my teachers, in fact to teachers all over the world, I comprised a list of my 10 most favorite movies in which the main protagonist is a teacher.Now I have not seen too many so I might miss a few, still I hope most of you approve my list :P

10) Remember the Titans: This movie is based on a true story of an Afro American Herman Boone (played by Denzel Washington) who is appointed as the head football coach of a school formed by the forced integration of two single raced schools. Boon faces a huge challenge in trying to make his black and white students stick together and play as a team. However, like all great teachers, he finds a common ground for his students, football, and uses their passion and love for the game as a tool to make them not only accept each other but also respect and love each other.

9) School of Rock: Story of a wannabe rock star Dewey Finn (Jack Black) faking as a substitute teacher in a private school. He discovers the music talent in his fifth graders and deceits them into participating in a rock competition in the name of a secret project. His cover is blown before the competition but by that time he has inspired those children enough to go ahead and participate in the competition against the wishes of their parents. This movie turns out to be a heartwarming comedy which also manages to convey a message on unconventional art education in schools.

 8) Dead Poets Society: John Keating (Robin Williams) returns to his elite school as an English teacher and sets out to break the strict education structure in place (SRK of Mohabbatein style). He is looked down upon by the traditionalists but he continues with his methods as he inspires students to think with creative freedom into a world of spellbinding poetry. Robin Williams delivers one of his greatest performances to date.

 7) To Sir With Love: Mark Thackeray (Sidney Poitier) is the quintessential inspirational teacher who plays the teacher in a school where the staff has given up on the rowdy, incorrigible students. Things start rough but once he throws out the textbooks and decides to teach the kids about life rather than square roots, he begins to win their trust and respect. The film deals with discrimination based on both race and economics. I bet many teachers from 80’s would tell you that this movie inspired them to become a teacher.

6) The Miracle Worker: This movie tells the story of Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), a half blind woman, who tries to teach a young, deaf, mute and blind Helen Keller (Patty Duke). Yeah SLB’s Black was ripped off from this movie. Anyway, understandably the physical limitations of Hellen leave her too frustrated and violent to be handled even by her parents. However through sheer perseverance and stubbornness Annie manages to enter into Helen’s dark silent world and teaches her how to communicate. Both Anne Bancroft (Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role) and Patty Duke (Best Performance by a Female Actor in Supporting Role) won Oscars for their performances in this movie.

 

5) Freedom Writers: Based on a true story of Erin Gruwell (played by Hilary Swank), a high achiever who has never failed at anything in her life, going to a racially diverse but not well integrated school, to share her love of literature with a group of at-risk teenagers. Needless to say, they are not immediately receptive and this young idealist gets very frustrated. However she manages to break through with a comment about racism. From there, she starts to get places with them. Relating the Holocaust and its horrors to their everyday gang-ridden lives, she helps her students make connections. She gives them journals to write their stories and they begin to share their lives with her. The teenagers begin to find themselves while reading and writing and many of them end up becoming teachers themselves. Really powerful movie.

4) Half Nelson: Intense. Being an Indie drama this is darker than most of the regular teacher movies. Story of drug-addicted junior high school teacher Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) and his 13-year-old student Drey (Shareeka Epps) who is trying to escape her convict brother’s fate. After she catches him smoking crack, the two alternately try to save the other while their own lives spiral out of control. Not a regular feel good teacher movie but not a depressing movie either as it maintains a sense of hope throughout. Amazing performance by Ryan Gosling, best of 2006 in my opinion but sadly Academy thought otherwise (Forest Whitaker’s in Last King of Scotland).

3) Taare Zameen Par (Like Stars on Earth): I do not think anyone needs to be told about this movie. Story of an eight year old Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safari) who is considered to be slow, lazy, dumb and stubborn by everyone until his teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) discovers both his real problem (dyslexia) and his real talent (painting). Awesome movie with a great message about how every child is special in his own way, one just needs to discover his specialty.

 

2) Good Will Hunting: The movie that made Matt Damon and Ben Affleck household names as it was written by these two main actors and they won an Oscar for same. This movie is not about a teacher who discovers some talent in his student and inspires him to excel. This movie is about Will Hunting (Matt Damon) a lonely genius who works as a caretaker at the university. He is fully aware of his brilliance but prefers to live a low rugged life with his friends rather than a superstar life that could easily come to him given his genius. Things change when a math professor Gerald Lambeau asks his psychologist friend Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) to convince Matt to not let his genius go wasted. Not to mention Sean has his own inner demons and Matt is too smart to not notice that. And thus a battle of will ensues resulting in some intense discussions between the two. Psychological insight and stellar acting make this an entertaining and passionate watch.

 

1) Entre Les Murs (The Class): Movie so devoid of clichés and so close to reality that it almost looks like a documentary. It spans through one full year of an inner city high school class supervised by François Marin (played by real life teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau). Movie is pretty much a collection of riveting discussions among students and teachers. We see how teachers aim towards a common goal of bringing the best out of their students but being different individuals have a different viewpoint on the process. However more than teachers’ discussions, I loved the verbal duels between Marin and his students. Unlike in Indian schools, students in west can talk back to their teachers which at time leaves teachers frustrated. Marin tries to get thorough his students (all aged 13-15), sometime successfully and sometimes failing terribly resulting in unwanted and unacceptable heated exchanges. However, just as it is with children, things always come back to normalcy after sometimes. Awesome and must watch.