Review 2. Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds is a 1995 American drama hood film based on the autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework by former U.S. Marine Lou Anne Johnson. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer as LouAnne Johnson, the film was released to mixed reception, but became a surprise box office success in the summer of 1995, leading to the creation of a short-lived television series.

Louanne Johnson is an ex-marine who begins a teaching career in an inner-city school. But she finds her pupils to be a rebellious handful in need of guidance as much as education. She then decides to use her own methods to win them round to learning, against the wishes of her bureaucratic superiors.

The film depicts the most burning problems at all times: teachers’ disrespect towards their students and low motivation of the students in studying.

As the film progresses, Johnson tries to use a variety of methods to gain the attention, trust, and interest of her students. She originally captures the attention of her students by telling them of her Marine background and showing them some basic karate moves. However, the head teacher doesn’t find her new methods useful as teaching karate is against school rules, and she is forced to stop. The Head Teacher doesn’t want something strange to interfere his system. He isn’t interested in getting along with these students as his only concern is their graduating, not more. The episode when Emilio tries to get his attention but forgets knocking the door to the Head Teacher’s cabinet brightly illustrates Mr.Grandey’s aloofness in his students’ problems.

Nonetheless, Louanne does her best to stir up her students’ interest in studying. She keeps their attention by using language and topics they could relate to, including using Bob Dylan song lyrics as poetry. From there, Johnson makes powerful promises that her students are afraid to believe, thinking them too good to be true. The first of these promises is “at this point everyone has an A, but it’s up to you to keep it.” For students whom are considered to be difficult and have probably never received an A in a class before, this is a revolutionary idea and a seemingly impossible achievement. However, she gives the students their first real seed of hope. Throughout the year, Johnson continues to encourage her students. She does all she can to help them both in and out of the classroom. As a result, they come to trust that she will always be there for them.

The most important trait Johnson exhibits is her unconditional belief in her students. No matter how students act, where they are from, or what others expect of them. Johnson defends her students’ ability to learn and challenging the preconceptions that had already been built around them.

 This movie gives us a little hope that there are people in the world prepared to go to extreme lengths for the good of others. This is a heartwarming story, and although at times it's quite tragic, it shows a growing bond between a group of socially discarded students and a very special teacher.