DANGEROUS MINDS

Cast : Michelle Pfeiffer, George Dzundza, Courtney B. Vance, Renoly Santiago, Wade   

Dominguez

Director : John N. Smith

Producers : Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer

Screenplay : Ronald Bass based on "My Posse don`t do homework" by Louanne Johnson

Cinematography : Pierre Letarte

Music : Wendy and Lisa

U.S. Distributor : Warner Brothers  

In the movies, like in the real life, it isn`t enough to have a heart in the right place. Good intentions are nice, but they need to be backed up with an intelligent script telling an involving story.

In the case of "Dangerous Minds" we have an example of inner city life, where, the story about crime and school is very good represented.

This film based on a true story (My posse don`t do homework, written by Louanne Johnson) is a Don Simpson & Jerry Bruckheimer production which stars like Michelle Pfeiffer as former Marine LouAnne Johnson, who leaves an officer`s commission and a nine year military career to pursue her dream of becoming an English teacher. She gets a "special" class , which is full of students who have no respect for anything or anyone.

LouAnne discovers quickly, which students will be hardest for her to reach . When she starts introducing the class to poetry through the lyrics of Bob Dylan, she begins to realize how much trouble the class is really in. She has to fight to save one of her brightest pupils (Bruklin Harris) from the poverty cycle of teen pregnancy and others from gang warfare. But the most notable is between LouAnne and an especially difficult pupil, Emilio (Wade Dominguez). But there is obviously something missing in the way these two learn to relate to each other and the result of it is incomplete because it doesn`t so really approach the impact of the film`s central tragedy.

The characters in this movie are tragic persons and there isn`t also a happy ending, how the most of us expect.

In general is this film very realistic and it shows the problems of teenagers, who are hard-core gang members or burned-out remnants of persons who gave up hope long ago.

"Sometimes you start out wrong and just keep going" LouAnne tells one of her students.

Somehow, this comment seems like a center for the way this movie turns out.

Judgement : **** ( of five stars)