La forza della volontà

"Stand and Deliver" is a strong film which is based on a true story. Edward James Olmos received an Oscar nomination as Jaime Escalante, a man who has decided to teach in a Los Angeles school after quitting a high-paying technological job. Escalante is a man who could be described as a "Patton of the classroom". He will do anything and everything to teach his Hispanic students the complicated mathematics of Calculus so they can pass a test which will give them college credit. This is Olmos' show all the way. He proved to be a dominant actor here and it is he who makes the film believable and overall exceptional. The supporting cast is good, led by a young Lou Diamond Phillips. A solid screenplay and smart direction make "Stand and Deliver" a forgotten winner from the 1980s. 4 stars out of 5.

Back when I was the age of these kids that Jaime Escalante taught I wish I had a math teacher who could have made it as interesting and challenging as he did for the barrio kids he taught in East Los Angeles's Garfield High School.

Stand and Deliver is one of the best films of the Eighties and one of the most inspiring I've ever seen. Anyone who could get kids fired up about algebra and calculus as Edward James Olmos as Jaime Escalante did has my undying respect.

Olmos is one of those rare teachers whose very presence in the lives of his students makes them change. So many I had back in the day were just time serving bureaucrats, little better than clerks who took attendance. Of course I had some good ones too, but not in mathematics, I was kind of hopeless in that subject.

But something that I didn't realize about math then, but that Olmos says and Stand and Deliver emphasizes is that math is the great equalizer. There's no cultural bias in math, no interpretative spins on it, you either know it and do it or you don't. It does help to develop the gray cells, no doubt about it.

The Mexican-American kids he teaches in Garfield High School have it in their minds they'll be filling station attendants, fast food cooks, or day laborers, striving for better is not something they think about. More than teaching them math skills, we are shown how Olmos makes them believe in themselves and their potential. It's certainly a better life lesson than anything else. I doubt any of Escalante's kids at parties do quadratic equations for entertainment.

Lou Diamond Phillips has a supporting role in this film which was made earlier than his breakout role in La Bamba, but released later. Of course his billing was adjusted as befit his new star status. He's very good as the kid who makes a deal with Olmos for three textbooks, one for home, one for class, and one for his locker just so his image among his home boys is kept secure. After all as Olmos says, we wouldn't want anyone to get the idea you're really smart.

Rosanna DeSoto who was LDP's mother in La Bamba is Olmos's wife in Stand and Deliver, loyal and supportive. Other good performances are from Carmen Argenziano as Olmos's supportive school principal and of the kids besides Phillips, you will love young Vanessa Marquez.

Andy Garcia and Rif Hutton play a couple of educators from the Educational Testing Service, read Standardized Aptitude Test (SAT) who can't quite believe what Olmos has accomplished with these barrio kids. Has to be something wrong here. You have to see the film to see what comes out of their questioning Olmos's competence and integrity.

Edward James Olmos was nominated for Best Actor in 1988. Unfortunately he was up against a singularly unique performance by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. The real Jaime Escalante no longer teaches in the USA. A few years ago Escalante went back to Bolivia to give back a little to the people from where he came. That's entirely in keeping with the character of this man that Stand and Deliver tells the story of.

One of the most inspirational films ever made, don't ever miss it when broadcast.

Despite the massive hurdles on his way to lead the pathetic students into the right track, the teacher, Mr. Escalante manages to reinvigorate the sense of esteem in them by teaching the hard subject of AP calculus, working day-in, day-out.

The setting on which the plot is mainly based is Eastern Los Angeles Garfield High School, a place packed with students from the poor, deprived Hispanic minority led by a tough teacher who has no intention of backing down.

Even at the opening, the audience begins to be fed with semiotic elements which signify the issue of stratification and deprivation in Los Angeles. "We're not a minority", that's one piece of large graffiti on a wall in a neighborhood filled with other elements of poverty, giving the initial hint to the viewer about the depiction of the plight and misery of a minority in the movie.

The teacher is shown behind the roll as he cruises across the neighborhood, setting his eyes on elements of the lower-class life: a group of Latino construction workers on the back of a van, a couple of street vendors and a band of street performers crossing the road as they carry their instruments.

Escalante is thrust into a class of extremely unruly children, who don't even bother stand up when he steps in the classroom. Interestingly, however, that is no shock to the teacher, as he seems to know very well how to handle them without resorting to violence while remaining completely coolheaded.

Upon the first encounter, one students asks him if they can discuss "sex" in the class. "We could set sex for homework," Escalante quickly replies in a sarcastic manner, giving the students an impression of sharpness and biting humor.

To highlight one major component of the Latinos' plight, the director chooses to focus upon the educational system and seeks to convey facts to the audience about how deep the social stratification and wide the gaps are in the American society when it comes to the right to equal education and opportunities.

Garfield High School, indeed, the director implies, is an embodiment of decades-long discrimination against the Latino community, whose children are the primary target of injustice. But Escalante is there just to fight that up to the end. Of Hispanic origin himself, he seems to have deeply realized the graveness of the matter, which is why he puts the bar higher, much beyond the apparent capabilities of his students.

The climax of the discrimination comes after the educational inspectors rule that the calculus test be rejected on the assumption that the participants had actually cheated in the exam, showing just how profound is the distrust in minorities even among the academics and the educated, who are supposed to put aside those biased notions and offer everyone the chance to move up the social ladder.

Ironically enough, the director chooses the two inspectors from minorities, one African American, the other a Latino himself, to suggest that even the educated members of the minority groups are so strongly affected by the white supremacy, never realizing that what they do is indeed representing the predominant view that Hispanic children are inherently incapable.

"If it was Beverly Hills High School, they wouldn't have sent you to investigate," Escalante tells the inspectors, objecting to the mainstream attitude in the educational system. Escalante believes that if the same scores had been achieved by children from Beverley Hills, the system would have never questioned the results, because they are basically considered supreme and talented.

The calculus test, from Escalante's viewpoint is a chance for the system to regain the trust of the Hispanic students, but the disapproval from the authorities makes that just a failure, disappointing the students and leaving them in a state of frustration after a months-long hard battle they fought to prove their aptitude.

Still, the unyielding teacher rises again, taking the hands of the worn-out students and helping them to stand up for the cause once more. He calls them true dreamers. "Tomorrow you'll prove you're the champs," he tells them with vigor, valor and enthusiasm ahead of the second test.

As the title suggests, the movie is the struggle of a man who never backs down in the face of hardships and obstacles, and sticks to his true mission of delivering the subject he's expected to convey to his students. But that's not the only thing he teaches them. The students learn calculus plus perseverance, something which has been missing in their lives by that time, due to the injustice imposed upon them.

The dialog and characterization in the movie are both simple. There are no complicated characters and the language is that of the everyday life of a group of Latino students. To an extent, however, the plot is unpredictable, as one keeps wondering what will happen next, especially after the results of the first AP calculus tests are rejected by the Educational Testing Service.

The music and the editing are smooth, with the costume and makeup design completely fitting the style of the era: loose shirts, young adults with newly grown mustache, and girls with hair-style representing the late 1970s. Together, those elements help with the viewer's full understanding of the theme and the context in which the story has developed.

The closing scene of the movie comes as Escalante learns about the approval of the second test from the authorities. As he tries to overcome his over-excitement about the news, with a smile on his face, he leaves the principal's office. The camera shows him from behind as he walks away in the corridor, as if he's done with a tremendous mission and is determined to just embark on another journey to continue carrying the huge task on his shoulders somewhere else.

Stand and Deliver has several messages and Edward James Olmos delivers an outstanding performance. Every time I watch it, it leaves me with a good feeling of achievement. I think Mr. Jaime Escalante deserves all the recognition for proving that all kids will rise to whatever level of expectation they are put on. If we lower the levels to the least common denominator, that's as far as they will get. But if we raise it, they can accomplish anything. All they need is GANAS or desire to succeed and a good teacher to motivate them. This should be required material for every school teacher. We need more constructive movies like this instead of the trash that Hollywood is producing lately

There are many films about teachers breaking through to tough students. Many are trite, sappy and formula-written. This is one of the few truly powerful films in this genre. Every member of the cast gives an incredible performance. This is particularly true of the students. Adult writers in this genre usually fail to write convincing adolescent dialogue, but the students in this film talked and acted quite convincingly. The role of the teacher was not glorified, but treated as a regular human being who was doing his best to do something good, sometimes in the right way and sometimes in the wrong way. The race subplot was powerful, but not too preachy. In short, this was an excellent and inspiring story of teachers and students overcoming their shortcomings and being the best that they could be. A stunning and vastly underrated film.