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I AM A PROMISE
Review by Michael Jacobson
Director:
Susan Raymond
Audio: Dolby Stereo
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Studio: Docurama
Features: Commentary, Filmmaker
Bios
Length: 90 Minutes
Release Date: February 22, 2005
"I
am a promise, I am a possibility!"
Stanton
Elementary School could be a public school like any other at first glance.
But located in the inner city of North Philadelphia, the mostly poor 6 to
10 year old kids walk to school past crack houses and through areas infested
with crime. Police sirens are a
normal sound. Parents worry when
their kid is a little late coming home from school that the worst has happened.
In
1993, filmmakers Susan and Alan Raymond took their cameras inside the school for
one year to explore what life and learning was like for these children.
The resulting documentary I Am a Promise won the Oscar that year
for opening America's eyes to the problems of inner city schooling.
The
kids are plentiful; the teachers far less so.
In one scene, an ex-Marine coach with a bullhorn tries to keep about four
classes of students together at one time. He's
not quite up to the challenge.
But
principal Deanna Burney seems hopeful through it all. She knows that education is the kids' only way out of a
potentially bleak life, and takes great pains to give each of her students the
attention they need. It's
frequently an uphill struggle.
Many
of the boys and girls come from single parent homes. A lot of them have one or more parents with a drug problem.
Some are undisciplined and belligerent; others more focused and
determined. Some lash out in
frustration because they can't quite get the hang of what's expected of them.
They live in a part of the city where more students will drop out of
school than graduate, and Mrs. Burney doesn't want to see them become a part of
the litter of humanity that ends up in jail or worse.
The
short amount of time doesn't let us get as close to the kids as we would like.
A couple are singled out for points of interest:
a boy named Cornelius who gets Ritalin doled out to him by the school
nurse to curb his temper, a girl named Nadia who shows signs of becoming a
writer...there's also a boy who gets up, gets ready and comes to school every
morning while it's still dark because his parents can't help him and he can't
tell time, and another one who gets a gold star certificate for listening to a
library reading but can't even read what's written on his award.
Because
of their home lives, many of the children simply lack the discipline to focus in
school. And when the kids outnumber
the teachers in such gross inequality, the educators can't make up for all of
it. And somewhere in front of these
kids, a great door is starting to close that they aren't even aware of.
The
problems are easily identifiable...the solutions obviously less so.
You can't really teach those who haven't been primed to learn.
More money could bring in more teachers, but even that doesn't get at the
root of the problem. School
vouchers would get kids like these out from failing inner city schools, but
wouldn't prepare them to handle a different learning environment any better. Parental involvement is an absolute must in education, but
what can you do when the parents are, in many of these cases, even less equipped
to handle life than the kids themselves?
Mrs.
Burney stresses to her students that they are all talented and gifted, and that
she will not let them fail. But in
the end, we learn that she too gave up and resigned her position at the school.
It was a sad final note, but an understandable one.
The problem is too big for one person to bear alone.
Who
knows where these kids are 12 years after the fact? A follow-up documentary would probably be nigh impossible.
One can only hope that some of them understood and appreciated what Mrs.
Burney tried to tell them and ended up rising above their circumstances rather
than quietly and sadly blending into them.
Video
**
This
DVD presentation looks about as good as you would expect for a low budget
on-the-fly project. The colors of
the school are frequently quite vibrant in daylight, but darker scenes exhibit
some unavoidable grain. There's no
real problem with clarity, mind you...you can always tell who and what you're
looking at.
Audio
**
The
simple stereo mix is perfectly adequate...spoken words are the mainstay here,
and they come through quite nicely. Which
is good, because the disc has no subtitle feature.
Features
**
The
disc boasts a commentary with filmmakers Susan and Alan Raymond along with
Deanna Burney, who reflect back on that 1993 year as they plunged headfirst into
a project with no idea how it might turn out. There is also a bio on the Raymonds, plus some Docurama
trailers.
Summary:
