'Waiting For Superman'

(USA, 2010, 102 mins)

After tackling the urgency of global warming in ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ director Davis Guggenheim returns, this time with Geoffrey Canada and Michelle Rhee in tow, to deconstruct the American educational system.

Focusing primarily on elementary and middle schools, ‘Waiting for Superman’ explores the flaws within the system that has resulted in a severe disparity between public and private schools within America. There is also a focus on the nature of charter schools, which are funded by the government, but free from government regulation. From the statistics that Guggenheim brings our attention to, charter school success stories seem to be proving an important point, and the lack of ‘tracking’ – putting children onto different ability paths to give them different levels of goals – could mean that all children have an opportunity to shine.

By telling the stories of Anthony, Francisco, Daisy, Emily and Bianca, five children from different cities and walks of life, as their families fight for their children to get into progressive charter schools, we are drawn into their emotions and frustrations. The heart-wrenching climatic moment comes towards the end, as we wait on tenterhooks to see if they’ve been accepted into their choice of charter school. The children that Guggenheim show are intelligent and hard-working, and some are cheekily smart ( “I can offer you milk and cookies, but if the oven ain’t working, you’re gonna get milk” - Anthony), but each need the right educational environment to nurture them into the grownups that they have the potential to be.

By highlighting the drawbacks of tenured contracts for teachers, Guggenheim depicts the flaws it creates - as Canada explains, bad teachers lead to bad teaching. At times, the audience can’t help but feel frustrated, especially when shown hidden camera footage of teachers behaving despicably in the classroom and yet they can’t be fired due to tenure. At each point, we are constantly reminded of how important a good teacher is, and yet systems like the “Dance of the Lemons” (a ‘lemon’ indicating a sub-standard teacher) show how America is failing its children.

Guggenheim once again presents a harrowing glimpse into an issue that is being addressed on the surface, but ignored at its core. All children should have a right to an educational system that works for them, and instead, this documentary reveals a world of adults and politics once again corrupting their chances.

Regardless of whether you have a reason to care about the current education system or not, this documentary highlights issues that affect the American public as a whole, as the education of the nation’s children is something that will affect the future. Guggenheim works fervently to expose the system with the hopes of changing attitudes, and like his Academy-award winning documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, he expects to shake his audience into understanding, and more importantly, caring. ‘Waiting for Superman’ is an intelligent and comprehensive insight into the flaws of the American education system, and it will certainly make you sit up and take notice of the issue at heart.

Verdict: Watch it at the movies, and if it stirs you enough, make a pledge to help change the education system.

Rating: 5/5

Reach Entertainment Editor Piya Sinha-Roy here.