Finding Forrester

You ever want to watch a movie that deals with issues with the educational system, racism, and writing? This is the one. Rated PG-13 for language, but if it weren't for that I'd say it would be a very good family movie (though it is rated for a reason, so I wouldn't recommend watching it with younger children). Basic premise of the movie? A 16 year old high school student by the name of Jamal has an unlikely meeting with a one-time award-winning novelist, William Forrester. Forrester hasn't left his apartment in years, and not only gets his groceries delivered but also has taken the ringer out of his phone. He is for all intents and purposes a complete recluse. Jamal is known for his basketball skills, and gets mediocre grades, but his test scores come back so high that he gets an offer from a private school. They claim that it is all about his education and that the scholarship is strictly academic, but expect him to also play basketball and are willing to sacrifice his education along the way.

Many of the characters in this movie have made assumptions about both Jamal and William. Teachers and board members at his new school automatically think that the only reason he was brought in was to play basketball, never believing that he could be there for academic purposes too. Jamal secretly dreams of being a great writer, but had always used basketball as his way to fit in and not stand out. Once he meets William, they gradually become friends as William teaches him more about writing... and they teach each other lessons about life in general.

Of course, not all good things can last. When Jamal turns in a paper very similar to a piece that William once had published, his teachers start to wonder just how much of his work is really his own. Having promised William that he will not tell anyone about their friendship, Jamal takes the fall for plagiarism.

As an education major, it was an interesting experience comparing the various teachers in this movie. There's Jamal's teachers at his former school, who really wanted only the best for him and acknowledged that their school really was not the best place for him. Then there's the teachers at his new school, many of whom only accept Jamal because of his basketball skills at first, and gradually warm up to him as they see his work. Then there's William. He wanted nothing more than to be left alone when they first met, but as he taught Jamal about writing, the line between student and teacher blurred, and each learned important lessons from the other.

This was a very powerful movie, and I would definitely recommend it, especially to teachers and those aspiring to become teachers. But really, isn't that what we all are?