Amazon.com video review:
Based on a true story, this inspiring American Playhouse
production stars Edward James Olmos as a high school teacher who
motivated a class full of East L.A. barrio kids to care enough about
mathematics to pass an Advanced Placement Calculus Test. Not exactly a
variation of To Sir,
With Love, the film concerns itself with assumptions and
biases held by mainstream authorities about disadvantaged kids, and
Olmos's efforts to keep his students coolheaded enough to prove them
wrong. Olmos, virtually unrecognizable as the pudgy, balding
instructor, gives a career performance in this fine piece directed by
Ramón Menéndez, and written by the director and Tom
Musca. The DVD release has closed captioning. --Tom Keogh
