Movie review: Waiting For Superman ****

Waiting For Superman ****

Director: Davis Guggenheim
Rated: PG
Showing: Liberty Theatre week of Friday, November 5 - Daily at 2:30/6pm, closed Sunday
Runtime: 111 minutes
Documentary

A hard-hitting and fascinating critique of the flaws in the American public school system.

The documentary, by Oscar-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), looks at how the U.S. is one of the lowest performers in education among developed countries.

It highlights how the States spends more to incarcerate someone for four years than it would cost to educate them in private school for 12 years.

The film follows five families who seek places at higher performing charter schools — but the high demand means places are allocated by a lottery system.

There is a focus on the importance of excellent teaching and how education is not dependent on money or geography but on attention to students.

The film also condemns inhibiting union rules that ban the sacking of bad teachers.

The importance of excellent teaching is personified by idealistic education reformer Geoffrey Canada, the president of the Harlem Children’s Zone, the goal of which is to increase high school and college graduation rates among youth in Harlem.

He also inspires the title of the movie, recalling how as a child he would watch George Reeves as the Man of Steel on TV and wish Superman would come to South Bronx to save him.

Watch if you liked: The War On Kids, An Inconvenient Truth.