Detachment (2012)

Teachers Can't Solve All Of Our Problems

The more ?connected? we get the more detached we become. In a process that began in the television age, when we no longer had to look one another in the eye, (the flickering screen had us all hypnotized); and that continues with the proliferation of computers, we have all learned to externalize what we see around us. We no longer have to face our antagonists. We sublimate reality and replace it with online ?friends? who pretend to share like interests, while denigrating ?others? who don?t fit into our cubbyhole-of-choice.
Societal ills have been downgraded from being major concerns to petty annoyances, (as long as the police keep ?them? down in the ?bad? areas, and keep the jails full). Poverty and hopelessness are on the rise and manufacturing has left town. The middle class is gone. And then we expect to sell the education bill-of-goods. We try to puff up our youth with ambition and competitiveness. We tell them that the schoolroom is the path to success, despite the reality of everyday life.
In this film executive producer and actor Adrien Brody, (and a great cast), portray teachers and administrators in an inner-city school. The excrement has hit the fan. Mandatory testing has arrived and the principal, (played by Marcia Gay Harden), has her job on the line. So not only do teachers have to play classroom cop to belligerent and violent students, they have to find time to motivate them to pass an exam. What is unspoken here, (and what really happens, particularly in New York City), is the imminent threat of a school shutdown. (I can never understand what Mayor Bloomberg thinks he has accomplished, aside from screwing with the teacher?s union, with the abandonment of educational institutions. We should be fixing the system, not dismantling it.)
Henry Barthes, (Brody?s character), has learned to put up a psychological wall between himself and the chaos. He only accepts temporary assignments. He is unmarried, relationship free, and living lean. However, despite efforts to remain uninvolved, (in an emotional sense), he feels their pain. He finds himself caring about a street woman. One of his students; (an outcast because of her weight), latches onto his every word; and reaches out to Mr. Barthes for help. What is a guy to do? The answer is in the film. It will drag you in too.