Blog Note: Forced to stay inside all weekend (being a Resident Assistant at the University of Arizona), this week’s blog is all about a movie I watched and reviewed. I highly recommend this film for anyone interested in: arts, Shakespeare, education, or important people making a difference.
Cruising down the aisles of Casa Video on the hunt for a film about the border or the border lifestyle, I passed the intense cowboy dramas and light-hearted comedies, neither of which seemed worthy of my time. Moving to the documentary aisle, I was bombarded with films about anything and everything. My eyes landed on an inconspicuous movie with an appealing title, The Hobart Shakespeareans.
This documentary produced by P.O.V., chronicles a year in the life of one fifth grade class at Hobart Elementary School in central Los Angeles. Teacher Rafe Esquith has been transforming the lives of 10-year-old kids that are traditionally from first generation immigrant Mexican and Korean families through the combination of hard work, love, and Shakespeare.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” said Rafe Esquith in the film, quoting Benjamin Franklin.
All of the children featured in this class didn’t speak English as their first language and English isn’t even the language spoken when they are at home. While most educators and children view this as a hindrance, through the Elizabethan language found within Shakespeare’s texts, the children not only performed at normal competencies but they excelled.
“By learning Shakespeare they are developing a large vocabulary and learning respect for each other,” Esquith said.
The students are not given special treatment because they are dealing with the struggles of learning in English while predominately speaking either Spanish or Korean; in fact Esquith believes all his students should live by two rules.
“Be nice and work hard.”
Esquith’s style incorporates music, art, and sports into the development of these children’s sense of being an American. The success he has had in his more than 20 years of teaching has garnered him a National Medal of Arts accolade in 2003. But for Esquith, the true award is having his students leave their poor neighborhoods and graduate from college. Some of his students have graduated from universities like: Washington and Lee, Princeton, Harvard, UCLA, USC, Yale, and Cornell.
In addition to Shakespeare the children read a diverse collection of literature that Esquith selects so that his students are able to relate to the idea of the struggles of being young and growing up. These fifth graders read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, A Separate Peace, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and the biography of Malcolm X.
One of the coolest aspects of this film is the two guest appearances made by popular Shakespearean actors, Michael York and Sir Ian McKellen. In fact, when the children shook hands with McKellen they screeched as if he were the Jonas Brothers.
Director Mel Stuart does an impressive job of telling the story from first hand experiences by the children, their parents, and Esquith all while keeping the film at an easy-to-watch 53 minutes.
After finishing the documentary, I had a few tears forming in the corners of my eyes. To me it is no wonder why Esquith has won so many awards and the film has won multiple film festival accolades. It is because he remains true to his mission of providing quality education to children who are craving for the opportunity to learn.
“I could make more money, but I wouldn’t have a better job.”
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