This review contains vague spoilers.
A grainy landscape sets the scene; from the first frame, the audience is aware of the bleak and harsh world the characters inhabit, overshadowing the themes to come. A dyslexic young child (Malia played by Emily Alyn Lind) tries to read the words written on the blackboard against a rowdy surrounding class, and an apathetic teacher. Shame appears as the young girl looks down in defeat. The child’s mother Jamie (Maggie Gyllenhaal) lives a hurried existence; displaying her character’s capability to spring for action from the instant we meet her. Unsuccessful in a student lottery where the winners gain enrolment to a more promising school, Jamie is fed up. Upon hearing of the Parent-Trigger law established in California, Jamie enlists the aid of teacher Nona (Viola Davis) in taking over the school. Their trials and tribulations make up the bulk of the film, while presenting an issue of the United States failing educational system.
Won’t Back Down’s few achievements relate to the performances of its stars. Gyllenhaal, Davis and Holly Hunter give good performances, with Davis (unsurprisingly) finishing as best in show. Co-writer and director Daniel Barnz details completely un-subtle moments through an melodramatic musical score, crescendoing at pivotal moments (courtesy of Marcelo Zarvos). Our protagonist is also given a generic love interest (Oscar Isaac) who fails to expose her unbridled humanity (or whatever the point was of including the character.) As a piece of cinema, the film is not particularly strong, but it’s discussion of education in contemporary America luckily distracts from the fact.
But then things get even more complicated. Won’t Back Down claims to be inspired by a true story. Barnz and co-writer Brin Hill seem to have taken some liberties with the words ‘inspired’ and ‘true story’ where no discernible case seems to serve as the inspiration behind this film. The first successful case that came from the Parent-Trigger Act came in July 2012, after filming had finished on the film in question. Before then, a few attempts were made but all were unsuccessful, unlike the result shown in the film.
And the Parent-Trigger issue is just beginning to heat up. Very recently, an elementary school in South Los Angeles took their petition to the school board and had it passed with a unanimous 7-0 vote. Unlike the heavily debated attempts that had occurred previously – and occur within Won’t Back Down – the case seemed to be more focused and centralised, and certainly less divided within a community. What must be remembered is that the Parent-Trigger Act is still very new, having only passed in 2010, and assessments should not really be made for another few years until the Act has had time to come into effect and breathe.
Walden Media, which also funded the controversial and educationally focused documentary Waiting for Superman, provided partial funding for Won’t Back Down. Walden Media’s owner Philip Anschutz is a well-known right-wing political ally, and funds David Koch’s politically conservative “Americans for Prosperity” advocacy group, among many others. This involvement isn’t too surprising, whereby privatised charter schools are a likely outcome of the Parent-Trigger Act. Add in an anti-union stance, and you’ve got a film that cheekily subverts the issue of disadvantaged kids getting the education they deserve.
Won’t Back Down, at best, contributes to the conversation, but is unreliable in its financial and political motives for doing so.
