Won't Back Down

Films based on true facts or in this case, actual events, are usually ones that definitely have something to say. I guess their premises are so incredible or enormous that it's worthy of mentioning, especially in the form of a film. And instead of just making an obvious documentary, the writers of this decided to get their point across in the form of a story, a tight script, and heart-on-your-sleeve acting, so the end product being "Won't Back Down" is what is presented.

Two determined mothers, one a parent, Jamie Fitzpatrick (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and another, a parent and teacher, Nona Alberts (Viola Davis) with children who are failing in an inner city school in Pittsburgh, join forces to take back the school, and turn it into a place of learning. But before they can change the school for the better, they must first battle the parents, the school board with one board member that's with them, Olivia Lopez (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), and the teacher's union headed up by Arthur Gould (Ned Eisenberg) and Evelyn Riske (Holly Hunter). Because this is for their children, they won't back down from this overwhelming challenge

Others to round out the cast are Oscar Isaac as Michael Perry, fellow teacher, Rosie Perez as Breena Harper, another teacher, Emily Alyn Lind as Malia, Jamie's daughter, Dante Brown as Cody, Nona's son, Lance Reddick as Charles, Nona's husband, Bill Nunn as Principal Holland, and Ving Rhames as Principal Thompson.

This was directed with pathos and determination by Daniel Barnz ("Phoebe in Wonderland" '08, "Beastly" '11). It was written by Brin Hill and Barnz which, as stated above, is based on actual events. This means that Hollywood probably took some liberties with this, but the story is basically what happened. Both Gyllenhaal and Davis give extremely determined performances in this, which helped in making this as moving as it was. The deterioration of inner city schools is a hard-pressed issue, and has been for a while, so maybe a project like this will spur people to getting more involved to try and help the situation.

There is a bit of script non-cohesiveness here, but not enough to detract from such an important issue today, so much so that you will find yourself cheering for these women as they risk everything for the sake of their kids.

Out of 4 stars: 3.5                    Rated: PG                      121mins.