Won't Back Down Blu-ray Review
Maybe it should back down just a bit.
Reviewed by Casey Broadwater, February 2, 2013
No one is going to argue that the American K-12 education system is a shining beacon on a hill, illuminating the way
for the rest of the world. We all recognize that the U.S. lags behind other developed nations in just about every objectively
measurable scholastic category. That's a fact. What we argue about is reform, specifically, what and how to change.
Unfortunately, the various sides of the argument tend to oversimplify what is a massively complex issue, each fixating on one
area for improvement and holding up their limited ideas as a panacea for the entire broken system. One camp wants better
standardized testing. Another wants teacher performance to be more closely regulated. A third agues for parental
choice, propping up charter schools or homeschooling as the answer. Teacher pay increases, union rights, progressive
educationall have their rabid supporters and detractors, and with such entrenched positioning, there's little room for rational
conversation, let alone successful reform. Then there are the bleary-eyed
think of the children appeals from every
side, miring the whole argument in gooey sentiment.
In the finger-wagging edu-drama
Won't Back Down, we have a film that exemplifies the exact same problemsa
single-minded focus, an inability to make concessions to opposing viewpoints, and a treacly, faux-inspirational message that
puts emotion
far ahead of reason. It's essentially pro-charter school, anti-union propaganda, which suddenly makes
sense when you realize that conservative multi-billionaire Philip Anshutza pal of the Koch brothersowns Walden Media, the
production company that made the movie and previously gave us the similarly themed documentary
Waiting for
Superman. Ah-ha. But here's the thing; if
Won't Back Down took the opposite tact, and told a motivational pro-
union, anti-educational corporatization story, it would be just as bad. The problem isn't that the film takes a sidenot
entirely, anywaythe problem is that this side unjustly demonizes the other and feigns that it alone has all the answers to
such a multi-faceted dilemma.
Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as the poor-but-somehow-still-chicly-attired Jamie Fitzpatrick, a single-mom in Pittsburgh struggling
to balance two low-paying jobs and look after the best interests of her dyslexic third-grade daughter, Malia (Emily Alyn Lind),
who's been recently booted from private school because they can longer afford the tuition. Malia now attends the dismal
Adams Elementaryliterally dismal, the opening scenes are cast in oppressive blues and grayswhich has been given an "F"
ranking for nineteen years running. Her union teacher, Deborah (Nancy Bach), is a lazy, tenured-after-only-two-years do-
nothing who texts and shops online during class, and absolutely refuses to stay late after school to help Malia with her
reading. Jamie fails at getting her daughter into a different classroomthe principal has his hands tied with class size
regulationsand begins to lose hope when she fails to win Malia a spot in the admissions lottery for a successful charter
school run by Principal Thompson (Ving Rhames), a fiery advocate for challenging the educational status quo.
Jamie finds her purpose when she hears about so-called "Parent Trigger" laws, which allow parents to effectively take over
failing schools and fire the administration, get rid of low-performing teachers, and/or turn the schools into charters. These
laws actually do existnot, however, in Pittsburg, where the film is setbut they've only been "triggered" twice, both in
California and neither successfully. For Jamie to succeedand we know she will, this is that sort of filmshe has to go up
against the monolithic and unmovable local school board, cut through endless tangles of red tape,
and convince at
least 50% of the parents and teachers to join her cause.
To this end, she recruits wary teacher Nona Alberts (Viola Davis)whose own son is mentally "slow"to help her collect
signatures and win over the rest of the unionized staff. Jamie also falls in love with the school's enthusiastic music teacher,
Michael Perry (Oscar Isaac), who seems to exist in the film only to have an initially pro-union character who switches sides
midway through. On the opposing team, we have union honcho Arthur Gould (Ned Eisenberg) and his attack dog underling,
Evelyn Riske (Holly Hunter), who work in a soulless, cubicle-rowed office and disingenuously try to get Jamie to drop her
campaign by finding Malia a spot in another grade-A private school. Just to reiterate: parents
good, unions
bad, privatized schools
good, local school boards
bad.
Writer/director Daniel Barnz paints school reform as an unnecessarily binary us-against-them struggle, making frequent
symbolic allusions to war
Won't Back Down opens to the sound of gunfire as Malia tries in vain to read from the
chalkboardand moving the story towards a foregone conclusion that's manipulatively joyous and overly optimistic. Of
course, the film's supporters would like to say that it isn't about unions or charter schools at allthat it's simply a David-
versus-Goliath tale of triumph and empowermentbut it's hard to ignore the script's not-so-subliminal politicization of the
issue.
Is the movie entertaining? Moderately, in a schmaltzy, starts-the-tears-a'flowin' kind of way. Are the performances good?
Absolutely. Maggie Gyllenhaal gets her character's frazzled-under-fire but infinitely determined nature down perfectly, and
Viola Davis makes a fine reluctant sidekick. Unfortunately,
Won't Back Down is a shill for the forces that would like
corporatize and profit from K-12 education, and its obvious agenda cheapens the story.
Won't Back Down Blu-ray, Video Quality
At first, I couldn't figure why
Won't Back Down's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer was so dreary. For the first act, the
film's color grading is nearly post-apocalyptic, gray-toned with sucked out color and crushed shadows. But then, as Jamie and
Nona make headway in their fight against the system, life is breathed back into the palette until it nearly glows with cheery
hues and warm highlights. It's not exactly subtle, thematically, and it's arguably a little too stylized, but it works, I guess. The
rest of the transfer does too. Shot on 35mm, the film retains its naturalif a bit chunkygrain structure here, with no evidence
of digital noise reduction or overt edge enhancement. The thickness of the grain does cut into overall clarity somewhat, but the
image is still plenty sharp, with fine facial and clothing detail that's easily visible in closeups, even from a distance. I didn't spot
any obvious compression or encode issues, and it looks to me like the film's Blu-ray presentation is faithful to both the source
materials and the filmmakers' stylistic intentions. No real problems here.
Won't Back Down Blu-ray, Audio Quality
Won't Back Down features 20th Century Fox's usual lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, which more than
sufficiently handles the film's limited sonic demands. As an inspirational drama, dialogue is the priority here, and it's always
presented cleanly and clearly, balanced with ease at the top of the mix. Below the voices, you'll usually hear some quiet and
not particularly involving ambience in the rear speakers, from blowing wind and pouring rain and other outdoor noises, to
classroom chatter, clapping, and hallway sounds. Overtly directional effects are limited, but the film doesn't really need any.
This ain't
The Expendables 2. Swelling up through and around the ambience is Marcelo Zarvos' lifting score, which uses
orchestra-backed piano to set the mood for each scene. Overall, the mix is sharp, dynamic, and tidy, without calling much
attention to itself. The disc includes optional Spanish and French dubs and subtitles, English SDH subtitles, and a descriptive
audio track.