© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Walker's Review: Waiting for "Superman"

Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim takes on the tragic state of public education in poor America.

Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim's epic follow-up to the Oscar-winning "An Inconvenient Truth" has generated more national headlines than any Hollywood blockbuster could ever muster.

Here, he aggressively tackles the mostly tragic but sometimes inspirational state of public education in poor America by focusing on such heroes as Geoffrey Canada with the Harlem Children's Zone project and Michelle Rhee, the outgoing head of schools in the Washington D.C.

But the movie's about the kids, and five of them are profiled here, each with the desperate hope of winning the lottery systems that cruelly determine which kids get into an increasingly dwindling number of open slots.

The movie could said to be manipulative, as it ends with the different lotteries where young lives literally hang in the balance - yet the tears it's sure to evoke are earned. And if it inspires sharp, young adults to enter the field of teaching, its importance cannot be underestimated. - Steve Walker

KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and award-winning podcasts.
Your donation helps keep nonprofit journalism free and available for everyone.