I am an ex-school teacher and while the school I taught in was NOT as rough as the ones you see in the film, the movie does highlight the biggest problem I see in public schools today. The bad kids, essentially, run things and there's no accountability. As is often the case, teachers are never told about students' criminal records I had students who were convicted sex offenders and I was never informed of this and only found out later. A friend of mine taught a student who paralyzed a previous teacher by stabbing her...and the teachers were never notified! I understand about the right to privacy, but this is insane...especially since these kids pose a serious risk to others. I mention all this because I have my own biases about this film...your reaction might be different.
When the story begins, Mr. Garfield (Samuel L. Jackson) is working as a substitute in New York City. One of his students has a record of stabbing folks...and because Garfield wasn't prepared AND the kid was not appropriate for this school, tragedy strikes. Garfield is stabbed many times from behind by this sociopath...and it's shocking he didn't die. And, there was no warning.
Fifteen months have passed. While it's not surprising Garfield moved to another part of the country, he didn't pick well as now instead of the roughest and out of control New York City schools, he's now substitute teaching in one of the tougher inner city schools in Los Angeles. Now instead of a few budding criminals in his classes, the classes are filled with punk gang members who seem to have nothing to lose if they attack him or anyone else. So what's next? Well, it won't be good! See the film and find out for yourself.
While I generally liked the film, the ending is ROUGH. I didn't love it though I did understand it....and I can only assume most won't love the ending as well. It's a real downer. Had the ending been a bit less awful, I am sure I could have scored this one an 8 or even 9.
