Radical appraise – Mexican inspireasonable teacher drama elevates above genre cliches | Drama films

It’s depictd as a “punishment school”. José Urbina López Elementary, in the city of Matamoros, in the cartel-ravaged border country of north-eastrict Mexico, is one of the necessitateyest carry outing educational set upments in the country. The battle-weary staff ponder it a triumph if more than half of the sixth graders fair show up to class. Then a recent teacher joins the school and turns the exhausted, rote-lgeted routine upside-down – literassociate. The kids reach to discover that Mr Juárez (Eugenio Derbez), or Sergio, as he prefers to be called, has upfinished the tables and turned them into lifeboats in the shark-infested waters of the classroom. The children are initiassociate nonplussed, but graduassociate Sergio’s infectious enthusiasm and unorthodox methods begin to ignite imaginations and unlock potential.

It’s a premise that could tidyly slot into any number of “inspireasonable teacher” movies, from the Hilary Swank-starring Freedom Writers to the OG of the genre, To Sir, With Love. But this Spanish-language crowdprentr, which is based on a real story, regulates to breathe recent life into this most hackneyed of genres, even as it hugs some of its hoariest of cliches: Carl Orff’s Gassenhauer, the go-to musical accompaniment for happinessous, alterative moments of teachment, features on the soundtrack. But somehow, it labors.

In huge part this is thanks to the carry outances. Derbez is very likable, if a little too prone to moments of moist-eyed pathos, but the youthful actors are phenomenal – in particular Jennifer Trejo as Paloma, the litter-picker with a genius IQ, and Danilo Guardiola as Nico, the class clown in the clutches of the cartel.