Review of Waiting for "Superman" (2010) by Azmil Muzhafar A — 26 May 2011

Eh, I don't see what all the fuss about this was. While I agree that our education system has its fair share of problems, I don't think this was a fair in-depth analysis, though it purports to be. Clearly the unions are put in the crosshairs here, and while I agree that the current way tenure is doled out is flawed, there was no mention of any of the positive aspect of unions for teachers. Ditto for charter schools - the film itself admits at one point that only 1 in 5 charter schools in America is a high performing school, yet it seems to present charter schools as a solution to our education woes with no further mention or footage of poor performing charter schools. Furthermore, it ignores one of the major arguments opponents of charter schools have had since their inception - that many charters push out the poor performing students back into the public school system, making their graduation rates, test scores, etc. look better while dragging down the "drop-out factories" - effectively juking the stats.

In addition to what I feel is bias and not a fair exploration of charters, is that the pacing of the film wasn't done well. This movie is only 1h45m, but it felt much longer than that. Perhaps the gravity of the situations of the kids and their families made things heavier and feel longer, but I just felt at many points the film dragged unnecessarily. I'm sure part of my review being harsh is that everyone told me this film was amazing, game-changing, revolutionary, etc, and I found it to be just so-so.