lonflexx
Joined Aug 2002
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Reviews15
lonflexx's rating
Although the documentary tries to depict these four teachers (three really, as Grace is barely heard from)as naive little Asian cookies (is there any other kind we westerners like?), originating from a country so historically rife with poverty, corruption, and venality it is a difficult characterization to sustain. What makes these teachers distinctly sympathetic is that they do come from such a place and yet struggle to maintain their professional standards. They are nice ladies, but not at all fragile and will not let opportunities slip through their fingers.
This is unfortunately in direct conflict with the young comparatively affluent Americans they are assigned to teach most of whom are mentally unstable and actively ambush their teacher's attempts to maintain order and civility in the classroom (much less learning). If nothing else, this POV illuminates the devastation caused by generations of drug addiction in Baltimore - a sin visited on the children who are technically cretins at birth. Naturally, school administrators assume the teachers are at fault for being culturally insensitive. The kids aren't being rude, they're just expressing themselves.
As with most current documentaries, this material does not hold up at feature film length. CineDiaz could have made their statement sharper with a 45-60 minutes edit. Too much padding and repetition drains the impact.
This is unfortunately in direct conflict with the young comparatively affluent Americans they are assigned to teach most of whom are mentally unstable and actively ambush their teacher's attempts to maintain order and civility in the classroom (much less learning). If nothing else, this POV illuminates the devastation caused by generations of drug addiction in Baltimore - a sin visited on the children who are technically cretins at birth. Naturally, school administrators assume the teachers are at fault for being culturally insensitive. The kids aren't being rude, they're just expressing themselves.
As with most current documentaries, this material does not hold up at feature film length. CineDiaz could have made their statement sharper with a 45-60 minutes edit. Too much padding and repetition drains the impact.
Suspiciously lame political message from the overrated Ghibli. The narcissistic writers prove what a moral cesspool their city of Tokyo is by trying to convince the audience that all Life on planet earth must adapt to the sadistic whims of idiot bipeds. I'm sure Tokyo's construction contractors showed their gratitude to Takahati and his cringing assimilationist rhetoric. At least one character pulls through this blatant environmentalisn't propaganda with his soul intact - Gonta: a hero with balls big enough to take on dump trucks. Go Gonta! If he could pull off a few more Fukushimas, Japan might be suitable for life again in another 2000 years.