Film Review

Dangerous Minds (1995)

   Now I’m going to speak about the movie Dangerous Minds (1995) and how LouAnne Johnson changed lives of her students. So Dangerous Minds is an American drama directed by John N. Smith. It stars  Michelle Pfeiffer as LouAnne Johnson, working as a teacher at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California.

   Having been divorced, LouAnne Johnson started working as a teacher in a school in Belton, in the most difficult and unrulier class. But possessing a firm character and having the skills of a former marine, Johnson decided to teach them. She found the approach to all of them and fought for each student, as they believed that everything was decided for them and they had no other choice but to finish their lives in the street without education and a chance for successful life. And when the woman decided to leave, unable to understand the school principal and the children’s parents, the students persuaded her to stay, saying that she was a flame that lit them the way.

   One of the main problems, presented in the film, is the attitude of the school and parents to the children of the lower classes of society. Such students don't want to learn not because they are stupid, but because there is no one who can be proud of them. All what children have are poverty and drunk parents, who don’t want their children to get an education and have already, chose their destiny for them. But teens, from such families, are ordinary people who have right of choice what they want to be in their future. In this film, only one person decides to struggle for their fates, a teacher, who then became their torch.

So this problem is perfectly shown in several episodes. The first example is when LouAnne came to parents of Raúl, who was expelled from school for a couple of days for a fight, for what his father was ready to punish the teenager without clearing of reasons. Or, for example, a mother of two black teenagers, who decided that her sons didn’t need education to live their miserable life.

   In conclusion, I’d like to say that in a child's education the main role belongs to the family as a pillar of support, guide and helper for children. But, unfortunately, not always parents care about the future of their child, and then school meddles with their lives. In addition, as they say, a teacher is the second mother, and the film is a confirmation of this, as there was only one person who  believed in children and pushed them in the right way, thus changed lives of her students.