Review of Brooklyn Castle (2012) by Todd G — 20 Nov 2012

The pursuit of chess by these junior high students shows the passion of youth vividly, but the story is undeserved by barely exploring the financial troubles of the program.

The story of a year with the chess team is supported by the talent and drive of these disadvantaged students. But the story of struggling with budget cuts is watery and never climatic. Each time the resolution is just to write letters to the government and then get their funding back. Hardly a match to the plotting, planning and reacting required in a game of chess.

But the movie follows students of I.S. 318, a junior high school in Brooklyn and shows that opportunity does not only come from money or position, but can be earned by hard work. The boys and girls are engaging and live their victories and losses acutely.

Comparing to last year's Oscar documentary winner Undefeated, this has many of the same strengths and is likely to be a contender for this year's award.