Radical

Absolutely beautiful, real and inspiring, brought tears to my eyes all the way to the end.

¿Podría considerarse un remake de El Profe, 1971, protagonizada por Cantinflas? Diría que sí. Valoro mucho que muestre los verdaderos problemas del país, y que no disfrace los orígenes del problema; que seguramente no le gustará a la Secretaría de Educación Pública, ni al Sindicato de Maestros. Desde esta óptica, la película es también una forma de protestar contra el descuido de la educación de los niños mexicanos. Tal como Cantinflas lo hizo en su tiempo. Enhorabuena para Derbez por su valor.

Its a compelling story, about a harsh reality that most poor countries live where the poverty loop its practically impossible to break. I think it has an important message to pass.

It's bordering naive, sentimental and way to by-the-numbers but ultimately sweet and satisfying. Saw it in a theater full of experienced teachers who've seen everything, and some of them were in tears. I can only recommend watching the movie this way.

I absolutely loved this movie, reassured me that as a teacher we have a duty of care to ignite a love for learning without fear of making mistakes. The element of having fun and using the arts is being removed from the curriculum to focus on teaching to a test that has no relevance for life. It is criminal that we are not catering to every child’s learning style, differentiation is recorded and copied and pasted on planning sheets without making major changes because recording strategies is enough. Time constraints and administration expectations of staff creates a stress on getting assessments completed without building on foundations properly so information can be retained. These assessments are often irrelevant and mundane and kids are being expected to achieve A criteria and parrot the learning goals without seeing and understanding the process involved. I wish people writing curriculum expectations could put more time into allowing kids to have some say and input into their learning. We would see that they truly would blow us away with how they think and feel about what truly matters in life instead of creating anxiety in the early years of their lives. Surely we have a duty of care to ensure they all feel valued and happy learning. This movie should be shown at all beginning of the year pupil free days as it would be the most beneficial Professional Development that teachers would enjoy and gain something from. Kids deserve to have happy and fond memories of their school life!

Derbez. Mal comediante.. INDEFENDIBLE como actor.. un asco

I had to go to an Arthouse cinema and pay thrice the ticket price of local commercial big cinemas to see this, because they don't screen much of the good stuff. I'm glad I saw it, heartwarming determination :)

you’ve seen this story told many times before, but the heart within this specific one makes up for any of those comparisons.

Radical is an uplifting and inspirational story about a radical teacher and his aspiring students. Based on a true story, it's set in 2011 in a small Mexican coastal town. The town is blighted by poverty and drug violence. Sergio Juarez is a new teacher at the local elementary school, a school that is run down and lacking facilities. Teachers are more interested in test scores rather than inspiring their students. Juarez wants to shake things up and seeks ways to get his students excited about studying. He uses experiments that enable the students. He promotes independent thought, getting great results, even if his methods upset the faculty. Two students in particular flourish under him. Nico, who has fallen under the influence of local drug gangs, and Paloma a young girl who is interested in astrophysics and has genius level qualities. This is quite an inspiring film that hits hard emotionally. It's a feel good story, but more than that it feels like an important film.

I knew this was a feel good movie when I went to see Radical but it had good ratings so gave it a chance. It was very standard in the storyline, it seemed straight out of a 'feel good movie' manual. They totally overdid it with dramatic music, too many crying people and over the top winks and facial expressions. The 'feel good' part annoyed me so much that it left a bad aftertaste and did not make me 'feel good' at all. It was more a movie for children than for adults. I think the writers only had one goal, win prizes with sentimental claptrap. If they wouldn't have laid it on so thick I would have enjoyed it much more and given it 3 or 3,5 stars.