Synopsis:
In Director Tony Kaye’s DETACHMENT, Academy Award® winner
Adrien Brody stars as Henry Barthes, an educator with a true talent to
connect with his students. Yet Henry has chosen to bury his gift. By
spending his days as a substitute teacher, he conveniently avoids any
emotional connections by never staying anywhere long enough to form an
attachment to either students or colleagues. When a new assignment
places him at a public school where a frustrated, burned-out
administration has created an apathetic student body, Henry quickly
becomes a role model as a teacher who actually cares about the
well-being of these students. In finding an emotional connection to the
students but also fellow teachers and a runaway teen, he finds that he’s
not alone in a life and death struggle to find beauty in a seemingly
vicious and loveless world.
My Thoughts:
My husband and I watched this movie the other evening after a crazy night with the girls. They were both sick and had head congestion, so it took forever to get them to go to bed. But, when they did, we were both wide awake and looking for a good movie to watch. I showed my husband the movies I still had left to review, and he thought Detachment looked interesting. We both enjoy Tribeca Film Festival movies, so knew we would like this film, even before we watched it. And, no surprise -- we did!
I couldn't get over the star studded cast in this film, which included Adrien Brody, Marcia Gay Harden & Christina Hendricks, William Peterson, Lucy Liu, James Caan, Blythe Danner, Tim Blake Nelson and Bryan Cranston. This ensemble cast plays teachers and students in a troubled high school, which seems to have been disregarded from the community and parents of those attending. It was so dishearting to see how the teachers weren't giving up on the students in the film, even though their parents and the community had already written them off. On parent-teacher night, only a handful of parents showed up, which only made your emotions run wild. Both my husband and I found ourselves feeling angry at the parents, while also feeling bad for the students and teachers, as they weren't given the support they needed.
Even though the film was an hour and half in length, it goes by fast and pulls you in from the start. Adrien Brody really made the film, and like he did in The Pianist, will definitely be known for this role in the future. He did an amazing job at portraying a detached member of society, by not forming emotional connections and not staying in one place for long, hence his occupation as a substitute teacher. But, when he begins his substitution duties in this school, you see how his past made him the way he is today. And, slowly but surely he begins to let the students, a runaway and the teachers affect him. As he begins to see that he is forming emotional connections with them, he does what he knows best and decides to leave. But, does he really turn his back on these troubled youth and the runaway he took in? I am not going to spoil it for you. You'll just have to pick up this DVD when it releases on 9/18. :-)
Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this DVD from the vendor in order to write up an honest review. The views above are mine and mine alone.
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