Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story

This movie is good. Strong script and well acted. Must see especially if you liked Dangerous Minds. Marilyn Gambrell is an inspiration and strives to make a difference in the community she comes from. Gambrell a former parole officer, and a former co worker, gets involved with the students from Smiley High School. Gambrell a white female, is seen as an outsider and has to earn the respect of the students. Her main focus is on children of parent or parents whom are in jail. She is hoping to break the chain, so future children will not end up in prison. She strives to show each child they are loved and no longer victims. She has started a foundation, No More Victims. Emotional scenes in this movie were portrayed very well. I highly recommend.

As a victim of rape from my father and his girlfriend I find this movie one of the best movies I have ever seen. I have never seen a movie that helps victims as well as this movie. I watched it and was absolutely inspired to do something good with my life. I was always wanting to become a nurse so I am going to take and become a nurse despite people telling me I couldn't do it. I am going to help kids who are victims. Whether it be of socitey or of some kinds of disease because their parents couldn't take care of them. I hope that anyone watching this movie takes and learns something from this movie. I hope everyone looks at their life and see's something they can change.

This is a true story about what education should be like in the United States. It's a story about one teacher who cared enough about the kids to do whatever it took to help these kids get their education and to graduate. This is a story about rising up above the perceived problems and taking charge of your destiny. This is the best movie I've seen in my life! Based upon the real life person Marilyn Gambrell who teaches these children to rise above the problems. She teaches them not only about the subject in school that she is there for, but she also teaches them about respecting each other & themselves. She also gets each one of these kids to graduate! The one kid that was expelled promised to come back next year. Through all of this, she even went up against the faculty when they wanted to ax her program. She went up against them because she believed in the kids that much. She took the worst kids in the district and made them into winners. This true story shows you how anybody can be a winner!

Jami Gertz turned in a dynamite performance in this movie. She played an Ex-Parole Officer turned Part-Time Instructor. She endured skepticism and indifference from members of a high school with students enduring serious social problems in the real world. She gradually earned respect and admiration from the students and the instructors later in the movie. They later visit a state prison -- in which the fathers of many children have been incarcerated for numerous offenses. The plot maintained energy and direction during the movie. She grew a set of balls in this movie. The students endure the roles of what the real world was like upon winning trust from the children. In the end, all but one student graduated from school -- thus looking forward to more productive lives outside the drug-infested world of government housing, gangs, beatings, substandard employment opportunities, and misery of Houston. Way to Go!!

Honestly, this movie is beyond inspirational, and to simply say the movie is incredible would be an immense understatement. Jami Gertz' performance is heartfelt and the role was simply just for her. The storyline is very frightening indeed; what I found to be a profound insult to the proposed "No More Victims" program was the beyond negative attitude from the faculty toward the students. The movie portrayed each individual character to the utmost extent, to the point where you could actually feel for the character, and thus, feel for the victim. This movie has become one of my favorites of all time. To say the least, i believe every school in America should have a similar program, or at least use the film as an educational tool. In regards to the statement that Gambrell's character was intrusive and such: who else did the students have in their lives to make a difference? Nobody; everyone believed them to be the pit of society's worst, and frankly, she cared enough. She not only cared, but actually DID something about it, something half of us are too scared to do.