So Long As We Learn, It Doesn't Matter Who Teaches Us, Does It?

To Sir, With Love has always been a film that I enjoyed.  I watched it when I was quite a bit younger, but always remembered Sir (if you'll excuse me) with love.  The film was made in 1967, and starred Sidney Poitier, with several other cheeky British teenagers as co-stars, including Lulu, who sang the theme song that I'm sure you've heard, even if you haven't seen the movie.  The movie was directed by James Clavell, who directed about 8 other movies that I haven't heard of.

The movie takes place at a school for "rejects" in London's East End.  Not being from London, I don't honestly know what the real East End is like, but I get the impression from the movie that it's a slum.  The kids there are rebels and outcasts, deemed expendable by society.  Even the teachers have decided that the kids are a lost cause, and have no control.  Mark Thackeray (Poitier), a young, black engineer who hasn't found a job in his field, comes into teaching merely to pay the bills.  He approaches the classroom first with patience and assessment, and is subjected to both silly and dangerous pranks, and also loud disrespect until he snaps once a feminine product (presumably used) is put into the classroom stove and lit on fire. 

Once he snaps, of course, things get better for him.  He decides that these kids (who are seniors in high school) are not actually kids any more and need to stop learning from books and start learning about life.  He throws away his books and tells them to ask him any question they want - talk about sex, life, marriage, cooking, careers, anything.  With a few more troubles in tow, such as one of the student's mothers dying, or the necessary spurning of a young girl's attraction, Thackeray manages to emerge from the term beloved by his students and colleagues.  He is accepted at an engineering job, but tears up the acceptance letter in the very last scene of the film.

A few thoughts.  

A montage of photographs serve to explain a field trip they go on to a museum.  It is an interesting way to do it, and while originally I would have thought it dull, they really captured the different personalities of the students, and made what could have been a boring scene interesting.  I wonder if they just had the actors go to a museum, let them interact naturally, and took pictures.

Poitier is amazing as an actor.  A nearly silent "Sit down," carries so much weight and authority.  In addition, there are several shots of him alone at home or in the classroom, conceivably just thinking.  Those shots convey simply how alone he is despite having colleagues and students.

You have to at least tolerate the song "To Sir, With Love," since it plays all the way through the film.  I wished that they had other bits of song to break up the film.  Even though I'm rather fond of that music, it still got a bit annoying.

While heartwarming and sweet, this movie seems typical today.  It is the simple mentor turns a bunch of bad kids around kind of movie.  If you're looking for something simple and friendly, look no further.  If you are looking for the kind of movie to make you think, move on.

But I still am quite fond of this film.