Stand and Deliver (1988) Reivew

 

Stand and Deliver (1988)

Stand and Deliver follows LA school teacher Jaime Escalante, who finds himself caught between a rowdy bunch of students in a failing school and an administration severely unprepared to give the students the education they deserve, causing him to turn to higher math to turn the students around. 

Rewatching Stand and Deliver for the first time since my own high school days, I feel as if I appreciate it now more than I ever could’ve in my youth (when it was used to pass the time when we had subs in math class, which is ironic really). It provides us with probably one of my favorite performances of all time, in the form of Jaime, who, through the lens of the film, is one of those rare teachers whose very presence changes the lives of his students just by being in it. The way he wasn’t just some time serving bureaucrat, little better than a clerk who took attendance, like much of the school, was evident in his style of teaching because he never treated these wayward kids as kids. He viewed them as equals, and thus his style of teaching reflected that, becoming a respected father figure that much of them were lacking. 

Math is the great equalizer. There's no cultural bias in math, no interpretative spins on it, you either know it or you don't, providing a doorway for young people who have it in their minds they'll be filling station attendants, fast food cooks, or day laborers, where striving for better is not something they think about. More than teaching them about math though, we are shown how Jaime instills a confidence in themselves and their potential, allowing them to strive farther than they ever could’ve imagined. 

We get an endearing cast, starring Andy Garcia, Rosanna DeSoto, Daniel Villarreal, Patrick Baca, Vanessa Marquez, Ingrid Oliu, Will Gotay, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Edward James Olmos. Olmos, like I said above, put’s forth a career best performance that is witty, intelligent, and above all else, garners the respect of those around him and viewers alike, that when paired with the likes of a young Lou Diamond Phillips, is incredibly captivating in it’s realism. 

Based on the true story of Jaime Escalante, Stand and Deliver, directed by Ramón Menéndez, is an incredibly inspirational movie that works so well because it resists the unrealistic sentimentality that the genre often falls prey to, managing to be uplifting and hopeful in a practical way by showing the effect that one great teacher can have on an entire community of kids. 

10/10