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DVD Mad Hot Ballroom
If the delightful spectacle of preteen kids dancing the foxtrot and the merengue isn't enough to lure you in, add the pressure of a dance competition and the triumph of troubled kids finding self-respect through discipline--if Mad Hot Ballroom were a Hollywood movie, it would be too corny for words. Instead, it's an engrossing documentary about a wildly successful after-school program in New York City. Mad Hot Ballroom follows a handful of kids in three different schools from the beginning of their dance classes to the night of the inter-school dance finals. Regrettably, the movie fails to pursue the dancers themselves; a few scenes provide glimpses of some smart, articulate kids with vivid personalities and compelling emotions, but the filmmakers make a minimal effort to draw the kids out or explore their lives outside of the classes. Watching the kids develop as dancers is still gripping and the final competition will have you on the edge of your seat, but it could have been all the more so. Though certainly worthy and genuinely heartwarming, you can't help but feel that Mad Hot Ballroom lost an opportunity for something truly dazzling. --Bret Fetzer
Delightful documentary of kids learning wonderful lessons through a dance program and contest
A friend recommended this film to me, and I am very glad she did. It is a delightful documentary about some eleven-year-old elementary school kids in New York who are participating in a program that teaches them four ballroom dances. They then compete as a school team in a series of dance contests with one of the schools emerging as the champion dancing team.
The contest is important only insofar as it sparks the kids to focus and improve. The same is true of the film. Following the contest provides a structure to the film, but being a documentary, the outcome is pretty well determined and we see the outcome well in advance. However, the structure of the film is simply the road we take to see the real delights of this story.
We see very different teachers working with their classes. These kids a generally from impoverished areas of the city and many without a solid home environment backing them up. One of the great moments in the film for me was one wonderful girl talking about how she felt after not getting into the finals. She said that she felt so good about participating because it was the first time in her life that she felt that she could succeed, that someone was pulling for her. It was such a delight to see her get such a positive experience under any circumstance, but especially to take it away from a disappointment!
We follow another fine boy from that team and see him talking to the judge afterwards about why they lost. The kind judge discusses how close it was and that they were only three points behind the team going to the finals (this is from a score of hundreds of points). The boy says that he doesn't understand and is genuinely bewildered about why his dream isn't coming true. Later, in another interview with that team, the boy says that he realizes that if they could have all just done one thing a bit better it would have made the difference, that he realizes that he could have done a bit better than he did. Again, this is a marvelous lesson for anyone to learn at any stage in life, let alone as an eleven year old.
We also get to see kids learning to socialize, boys and girls learning about each other and becoming more comfortable with each other. That is also an important step in life. Ballroom dancing, where you actually have to touch each other, in a proper way of course, and coordinate steps and movements together, is a fabulous way to help kids make that important social breakthrough.
Yes, we are happy for the team that eventually does win, and we hurt for all the wonderful kids who do not win. These kids dance their merengues, tangos, rumbas, and swings so well that they are a delight to watch. It is marvelous. These teachers are to be commended and these children praised. Everyone who participates is better off. I am glad that they have a contest; kids should not be protected from all competition. But I am also glad that they have a rather gentle contest rather than making the separation of winning and losing as stark as it can be in real life. It is a learning experience and that is what should be emphasized.
Fine film, great educational program!
Why Dancing is Part of Growing Up
I got this on a whim, intending to help my 6th grader, and ended up loving it. There are some unusually good reviews by others, so I will not repeat them. The bottom line is that this movie is for grade school what E.O. Wilson's book "Consilience" is for adults. In that book he answers the questions, "why are the humanities vital to the sciences" and concluded that science out of context is not helpful to humanity.
Watching this movie, I found myself really admiring New York City for understanding how dancing could contribute to social IQ and to human interactions. As my own teen-ager (145+ IQ) rejects rote learning in high school, I am compelled to believe that we need to drastically change education, and do more of this social interaction, learning to learn, learning to find people who know, learning to exchange ideas rather than memorize old ideas, etcetera.
As a suburban New Yorker from the 1960's, I also found that this movie considerably enhanced my appreciation for New York, and the school system, in the aftermath of 9-11. Over-all this movie is a credit to kids at their best, to the idea that dancing matters, to the NYC school systems and its teachers, and to the "Big Apple" itself.
Super, worthy of any adults time, and a definite pick for family nights in over pizza.
Modern fifth graders meet the traditions of ballroom dancing
Mad Hot Ballroom is an absolutely irresistible move, full of dancing, suspense, laughter, and even upsets. Lets face it; the sight of 11-year-olds in New York City carefully executing the fox trot, the merengue, and the rumba is unquestionably comical. But the great thing about this film is that it evokes more than just laughter; there's a real feeling that you are watching some real young protégés, who even if they can't dance, are more than likely going to go on to live healthy and productive adult lives.
The contest depicted in Mad Hot Ballroom is organized by the American Ballroom Theater and involves kids from more than 60 public schools. Following a 10-week training session, youngsters from each school are divided into teams of five pairs of dancers for a grand competition, with finals at the World Financial Center in Manhattan. The kids, from schools in Tribeca, Bensonhurst and Washington Heights, are from varying economic and ethnic backgrounds
Most of the children, for example, at the Washington Heights School are members of low-income immigrant families from the Dominican Republic, with many coming from broken homes, single parent families, and extended families. Consequently, the kids are bringing some very real issues along with them to the practice sessions.
The film literally has a cast of thousands, so it's often difficult to keep track of everyone, and sometimes it unintentionally misses the chance to present them in their full individuality. There are however, interviews with a selection of them, and they are fascinating - in addition to dancing, they talk about school, the streets, their career ambitions, and the state of relations between girls and boys.
But the highlight of the film is obviously the dancing itself as we witness their first lessons and their journey right up to the big competition. Along the way they learn who to smile at each other, look each other in the eye, and most importantly, learn how to act as young ladies and gentlemen. It's both comical and genuinely touching, and any movie that captures some of the ineffable, magical process by which people learn is bound to be inspiring. There is also a glimpse at the ways class and ethnicity informs the lives of the city's children.
But director Marilyn Agrelo is sensitive to the full complex of emotions invoked by the competition, and she wisely doesn't shy away from showing the terrible disappointment that one school faces when they learn that they have been eliminated from the competition at the semi-finals. But the children have done their best and being exposed to competition is generally regarded as a good thing.
The young sophisticates of TriBeCa seem not only materially better off than their counterparts uptown or in Brooklyn, but also confident of their superiority, and they have a feisty, focused school principal who is determined to have them win the title. The children of Washington Heights, on the other hand - or at least their passionate, dynamic teacher - feel as if they need to win. Their school district is one of Manhattan's poorest, and the students' aspirations are shadowed by the realities of crime, poverty and the broken families in their neighborhood. Taking home the trophy would be seen as a huge confidence booster.
But Mad Hot Ballroom is also a fabulous homage to the teachers, who have become so emotionally caught up in the kids' efforts that they are seen to periodically burst into tears with pride and love. They are a remarkably dedicated group who pour their hearts into trying to inspire and instruct their charges and help them cope with setbacks. Particularly intriguing is Yomaira Reynoso, a Washington Heights teacher who is a caring drill instructor.
The wealth and richness of the material in Mad Hot Ballroom is both fascinating and frustrating. It's a terrific account of how youngsters can be inspired and how the New York education system is doing such a marvelous job at teaching the students how to relate to each other, but at the same time, one wishes that there could have been some kind of follow up included and whether any of these kids actually took up ballroom dancing as a full time endeavor. Mike Leonard November 05.
Movie studios, by and large, avoid controversial subjects like race the way you might avoid a hive of angry bees. So it's remarkable that Crash even got made; that it's a rich, intelligent, and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents--black, white, latino, Asian, and Persian--is downright amazing. A politically nervous district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his high-strung wife (Sandra Bullock, biting into a welcome change of pace from Miss Congeniality) get car-jacked by an oddly sociological pair of young black men (Larenz Tate and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges); a rich black T.V. director (Terrence Howard) and his wife (Thandie Newton) get pulled over by a white racist cop (Matt Dillon) and his reluctant partner (Ryan Phillipe); a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Paul Haggis DVD Release Date: Released the 06 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Set in Calcutta's notorious red-light district, Born Into Brothels explores the lives of its most vulnerable citizens. Directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, the picture’s eight small subjects shot the still footage themselves. Briski first teaches them how to shoot and edit. The children then put her lessons into practice. They gain confidence as the film proceeds, yet there's always the threat that any of the girls, especially 14-year-old Suchitra, could be forced to "join the line" (work as a prostitute). For most, it's only a matter of time. The boys don't have it much better. Promising photographer Avijit's mother is gone and his father is a drug addict. "Without help," Briski notes, "they're doomed," so she takes matters a step further and tries to get them out of... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Ross Kauffman - Zana Briski DVD Release Date: Released the 20 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Something got lost in translation from 1996's critically acclaimed Japanese comedy, but the American remake of Shall We Dance? is not without charms of its own. In being transplanted from Tokyo to Chicago, the original version's subtle humor is shaken out of its cultural context, but this is an otherwise faithful adaptation in which a weary lawyer (Richard Gere) battles his mid-life crisis with ballroom dancing lessons, while his wife (Susan Sarandon) hires a private detective to see if he's cheating. Those expecting a Jennifer Lopez showcase will be disappointed; her role as the melancholy dance instructor keeps the beautifully lovelorn J-Lo on the sidelines, while a cast of standard-issue supporting characters (especially Stanley Tucci's clandestine faux-Latin dance lover)... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Richard Gere - Jennifer Lopez - Susan Sarandon - Stanley Tucci Director(s): Peter Chelsom DVD Release Date: Released the 01 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Solidly built around a subtle yet commanding performance by Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda emerged as one of the most highly-praised dramas of 2004. In a role that demands his quietly riveting presence in nearly every scene, Cheadle plays real-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in the Rwandan capital of Kigali who in 1994 saved 1,200 Rwandan "guests" from certain death during the genocidal clash between tribal Hutus, who slaughtered a million victims, and the horrified Tutsis, who found safe haven or died. Giving his best performance since his breakthrough role in Devil in a Blue Dress, Cheadle plays Rusesabagina as he really was during the ensuing chaos: "an expert in situational ethics" (as described by critic Roger Ebert), doing what he morally had to do, at... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Don Cheadle - Sophie Okonedo Director(s): Terry George DVD Release Date: Released the 12 April 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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