This short film is the story of teacher Jeffrey Wright who is a real- life movie cliché in that he is an inspiring teacher with his own tough situation but a heart of gold that still has time for other people. When the film started I was wondering "well what is so special here that he got a film made about him" – not in a terrible way, but just that I didn't know what the film was about, if it was a big story in America or if it was just a person. Well the answer to the film about what is so specifically special about Wright is that he isn't – but he is a very strong and warm character from what we see here and it is evident that he makes an impact on his students, so much so that the maker of this film is from one of his former classes.
The film shows us the energy that Wright puts into his classes and also the personal role he tries to play in the lives of the students, supporting them and being someone to whom they can come. From here we go into his personal life via a story he tells his students of his challenging disabled son and what he went through as a father and a man in that situation. Although I never worked out why he was telling this story to his class, the device of him doing so does work in the context of the film because it puts us there as well and it adds a lot to the understanding of the character.
My pondering about all the others who could tell similar stories of overcoming and being good people gradually faded once I let go of my cynicism and accepted that yes there are lots of people, and this is one of them – so why not listen to this one while he is here. Viewing the film like that, Wright does come over as someone to look up to and someone to learn somethings from about perseverance, looking out for others and trying to build a community from those around you, whether students, family, coworkers or whomever. It is a simply film with a lot of respect and love for the man, but it is well done and generally will win you over with its honesty and warmth.
