When Hollywood remakes this movie it will be ruined. This excellent little film (1h 13m) is not about a "Sandra Bullock type" being the inspirational slum school teacher who saves the kids from a life of crime. It is a small, but highly realistic, story of an ordinary dedicated teacher "doing her duty". The same teacher most us remember in schools worldwide. A decent middle aged woman taking her job seriously and doing her very best trying to stem the tide of violence and poverty in her community, or at least trying to stem a rivulet...
This tale is set in Palermo, Sicily but it could be set in Calcutta, or Detroit, or London. The violence is unglamorous, the victories are small, the lives are any of the eight billion humans on our little planet.
Because of its small intimate nature this movie really pulls the viewer into the statistically unremarkable lives of the protagonists. This story could be played out in a million communities, in dozens of languages, but nonetheless we can all be thankful that we got out of there, or if we didn't we can possibly hope that our kids might have a "better destiny".
The small cast are all excellent, from the entire-movie protagonists (Mattel Aluia and Anna Attademo) to the one-scene villains, everyone played their parts perfectly. Director/co-writer Gaetano Di Lorenzo caught the intimacy of the story and paced it to perfection. There was not one unnecessary scene, not one plot hole or one lack of clarity moment. An excellent job by him and co-writerMaria Montalto.
Does our teacher succeed? Watch the movie to find out.
