‘Waiting for Superman’ keeps one’s interest, but no real revelations

The revelations that materialize in the solid, if still unfulfilling, documentary Waiting for Superman are not earth-shattering. Anyone who has a subscription to Time magazine or reads periodicals on a regular basis will know that the American education system needs help. Then the true debate begins.

The film says that children are not reaching manageable levels of proficiency in reading, writing and math; teacher unions wield an unbelievable amount of political power; and an exorbitant amount of money is thrown into the equation. Unfortunately the results, according to the film, are spotty at best. The United States is falling behind the rest of the world.

Because much of this is known in the public sphere in the wake of the controversial No Child Left Behind policies and advent of charter schools, Waiting for Superman feels a couple years too late. The facts are certainly presented in a slick, easy-to-digest manner, but the facts are percentages and numbers one has heard before.

Of course, if everything in Superman is brand new, then one should start paying attention to the outside world. Millions of taxpayer funds are used every single year on the public education system, and Americans ought to take note of where and why those dollars are being used.

So, no, Waiting for Superman is not An Inconvenient Truth. That film, similarly directed by Davis Guggenheim, felt revelatory, so much so that it caused a worldwide revolution. Climate change was always on the periphery of humanity’s attention, but thanks to the efforts of former Vice President Al Gore and that Oscar-winning movie, the issue moved to the forefront of global talks on environmental sustainability.

In comparison, Waiting for Superman could be better categorized as another blip on the radar screen of the education system’s difficulties. This 2010 documentary will not cause a revolution, but certainly it achieves some furrowed brows.

While watching the 111-minute documentary, I was less interested in the philosophy of Bill Gates and Michelle Rhee, the former superintendent of the Washington, D.C., public school system, and much more interested in Guggenheim’s uncanny ability to put these national problems on a personal level. The stories of the families featured in the film are Waiting for Superman’s true strong point.

The sorrow involved with charter school lotteries is brought to haunting life in the final third of the film. The struggles that a student has when he or she is enrolled in an inadequate teacher’s class is brought to such clarity that it burns. One wants to reach through the screen and help these kids.

Waiting for Superman is at its most heartbreaking when the children are featured prominently. In some ways, that’s true of the American education system as well.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Waiting for Superman

• 2010

• Directed by Davis Guggenheim

• Running time: 111 minutes

• Rated PG for some thematic material, mild language and incidental smoking

• Rating:

Revised