Waiting for Superman

It's a messy film about a messy subject. The stringing of threads together is far from perfect with some storylines abandoned mid narrative to be picked up far later and without substantial resolution. However, those problems lie firmly in the hand of the filmmaker. What shines, quite appropriately, is the absolute desire for education. These are children and parents and teachers and educators who are hungering for something better. They may all have differing points of view and there are some with arguably questionable agendas yet what lies at the heart is the fact that a lot of people are aware that there are significant problems within the education system in the United States and particularly in areas where poverty and social circumstance have long been seen as predetermining factors with regard to success. These aren't problems limited to the education system in the US either yet no investigation was made during the making of the film to look at other education systems that may have encountered and circumvented these problems or how they've avoided them altogether. One might argue that this is about the American education system and should remain solely that way, however, the film comes to the conclusion that the system is broken. Looking wider beyond its borders may have made for a film with far more answers than which it eventually arrives.

Waiting for Superman is a documentary about the US state school system.

I'm sure this is an interesting watch for anyone with a child in the US state school system but unless that's the case then this will be a waste of time for you.

If you want to know about the British state school system then do some research on your local schools. That will be much more informative.

American education culture. It was boring to be watched by a person with another culture background perspective. I stopped after 20 minutes.

I selected this film solely on the basis of the rating given by others as I'd never heard of it. After 10mins I wondered quite why it had been so well received as it didn't seem to be going anywhere. But after 30mins I found myself becoming strangely frustrated with the problems faced by the parents and the seeming stupidity of officials who were in charge of the school system.

This is definitely not a thrill a minute film nor is it a nice rom-com where everyone lives happily ever after. It is essentially a documentary on the failings of the public school system in the US. But I am glad I stuck with it as it made interesting (& a little depressing) viewing and by the end I was eager to know what happened to each of the families involved.

Depressing and boring. What are tehy going to do about it?