The rich, often complicated interactions between teachers and students provide endless fodder for filmmakers. In anticipation of the 2016 Academy Awards, we asked Katherine Koch, head librarian at H.T. Coutts Education Library, to give us her top 10 list of movies about teachers.
Take advantage of some of the great new movie streaming services purchased by UAlberta Libraries last year and delve into these movies where teachers—both inspirational and tragically flawed—are the stars. If you missed Part 1 of this list, click here.
5. Music of the Heart (1999)
Starring: Meryl Streep/ Aidan Quinn/ Angela Bassett
In the same vein as Stand and Deliver, this movie stars Meryl Streep as Roberta Guaspari, a young teacher who fights against the board of education in her bid to teach underprivileged kids the beauty of music through the violin. Music of the Heart was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000 for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Meryl Streep).
4. Stand and Deliver (1988)
Starring: Edward James Olmos/ Lou Diamond Phillips
When it comes to Hollywood movies about hard-working teachers who use unconventional methods to teach inner-city youth, Stand and Deliver always makes the list. Set in East L.A., this is the true story of mild-mannered high school math teacher Jaime Escalante, who took a group of dropout prone students and trained them to pass the rigorous Advanced Placement exam in calculus.
Stand and Deliver was nominated for several awards, including Best Actor in a Leading Role (Edward James Olmos) at the 1989 Academy Awards.
3. The Class (2008)
Starring: François Bégaudeau
In this award-winning French movie, teacher François Marin and his colleagues are preparing for another school year at a racially mixed inner-city high school in Paris. This movie has the feel of a low-budget documentary with acting that just feels like ordinary people being themselves, providing real insight into a classroom. There's no “teacher hero” rushing in to save the kids and no big transformations.
The Class won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at the 2009 Academy Awards.
2. Precious (2009)
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe/ Mo'Nique
In Harlem circa 1987, an overweight and abused teen who is pregnant with her second child finds hope and redemption through the power of education. Almost completely illiterate at the beginning of the story, Precious is transferred to an alternative school because of her pregnancy and starts to believe she can have a future by learning how to read and write. Her teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), teaches quietly and consistently and begins to awaken the minds and spirits of her students.
Precious was nominated for 90+ awards and won two Academy Awards in 2010.
1. Dead Poets Society (1989)
Starring: Robin Williams/ Ethan Hawke
This is probably the most famous teacher movie of all time. Robin Williams stars as rebellious English teacher John Keating who goes back to his alma mater to shake things up and do what he feels is right. It’s been said that what attracted Robin Williams to the role of Keating more than anything else was that Keating was the type of teacher whom Williams always wished he’d had as a boy.
Dead Poets Society won an Academy Award in 1990 for Best Screenplay.
Feature Image: Still from Precious (2009), starring Gabourey Sidibe (l.) as the title character and Paula Patton (r.) as her teacher. Source: rogertebertcom.