Detention

I have to admit that this did not turn out to be what I expected it to be. It was actually better. The script is well done and provides enough substance to make it worth watching. For the most part it is a believable story. The acting is not bad for the relatively unknown cast. If you are looking for something different, this is it.

In the opening scene of this dark satire, a panning camera finds a man sitting alone in a room of fading photographs and antiques. A telephone rings. He picks it up just as men sent to take him to a mental institution are knocking at his door. His choice, to take a job as a substitute teacher, sets off an intriguing and provocative tale that takes us through deft riffs on Clockwork Orange, Blackboard Jungle, Heart of Darkness, Kafka, and Jonathan Swift, and I am not just dropping names; a meaningful discussion of this complex film would include all of these influences. What appears to be a conventional, yet both disturbing and comic, story about an idealistic instructor's attempts to reform wayward youth takes a startling turn and confronts the viewer with questions of the basic worth of human selfhood and dignity. Anyone concluding that the film espouses a certain "solution" should look for the irony and keep in mind that the director himself referenced Swift's "Modest Proposal" at a recent post-screening discussion. General release in August

Hmmm,...this COULD have been an exceptional film for ages teen to adult. However, because the writers and producers decided to include a lot of gratuitous nudity (including genitalia and people urinating), this is NOT a movie for the kids or even the teens--which is a shame, as the movie could have been enjoyed by teens, but I assume most responsible parents wouldn't let their kids see this. In fact, up until the long nude sequence, my 16 year-old was watching the film with me, but I had to turn it off and see it when she went to bed. While I COULD understand the extensive use of a lot of profanity, it would have been easy to do the film without so much skin. Plus, the fact that all these nude scenes are supposed to involve kids about 16 or so, it seems pretty disturbing. Perhaps a pedophile could find the movie very arousing. And all this is a REAL shame, as the film was written and acted so well and really was exceptionally original and interesting.

The story involves a bizarre but very likable substitute teacher who works in a school that is full of rich, pampered punks who run the place and make the adults live in fear. While this aspect seemed a bit over-the-top in this regard, it did make for a VERY satisfying sadistic solution by the sub. Instead of betraying the manner in which he corrects several bad kids' behavior, it's really best you see it yourself--just be sure it's without the kids!

One reviewer said they felt that the acting was bad, though I actually thought John Davies in particular (in the lead) was exceptional. I really liked the job he did in the film and hope to see more of him in other films.

By the way, I usually am not obsessed with minute mistakes in movies, but I did notice a problem with the sequence where the two teachers drink a beer. Before the lady opens her bottle of beer, it already has about 1/3 of the contents missing.

After some personal trauma, Wilson Walmsley (John S. Davies) is invited to work as a substitute teacher in a suburban public high school. He finds lack of authority and interest in the school direction and teacher body; uncontrolled and abusive students in an environment of disrespect and lack of discipline. He becomes close to the arts teacher Louise (Marsha Dietlein) and to the smart and abused student Joey (Forest Denbow). When he saves Louise from a sexual assault of the student Davey (Meason Wiley), Louise and he are sued by Davey's family lawyer; then Davey's girlfriend beats Louise. The upset Walmsley lures, drugs and kidnaps Joey and six troublemakers of his class and brings them to his isolate real estate in Alpine, Texas. When the seven students wake up, they are naked and caged in cages with electric fences. When Walmsley arrives, he advises that his class will begin, and any disrespect or lack of discipline will be duly punished, and shots Joey to make clear his intentions. And the class begins.

"Detention" is a surprisingly great low budget movie. The theme of a new arrival teacher in a school with troublemakers was originally explored in the masterpiece "To Sir With Love"; more recently I recall the good "Dangerous Minds", the reasonable "The Substitute" and some others. However, "Detention" uses in addition the concept of "The Collector", but with a teacher that seems to become temporarily deranged and resolves to brainwash the problematic students of his class with education and good manners. The final situation is predictable, and the greatest flaw in the plot is how he could afford to buy a trailer with a car if he seemed to be broken when he accepted the invitation and was stolen with only four dollars in the wallet. However, Walmsley is a mystery, since his private life, his trauma and his motives are never disclosed to the audience, only for Louise but in private. I liked his explanation how people is brainwashed everywhere and the mission of a teacher, therefore better off by a teacher. The acting is excellent and this film is a great entertainment. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Enjaulados" ("Caged")

A hilarious satire of contemporary education and today's coddled youth, this little-seen comedy rates as a real triumph for writer/director Anderson (whose "Positive ID" was pretty terrific, too).

Good luck finding it, though -- after some festivals, it's kind of disappeared.