To Sir With Love

I could easily expound upon the sentimentality, cheesiness, awful music, and amateurish acting throughout “To Sir With Love.”. I won’t because it turns out to be one of the best movies I’ve seen in years. The transforming element, the ingredient that elevates this movie above the sum of its parts is Sidney Poitier.

As Mark Thackeray, Poitier plays an engineer who takes a temporary job as a teacher in East End. Faced with an unruly mob of seniors, Thackeray tries and errs until he lands on a bold experiment that not only treats students with dignity, but ekes out higher standards of behavior from them, too.

Poitier manages this role with a tightrope walker’s balance, dealing with a teenge crush, blue collar resentment, and racism. He only loses his cool twice (once on rage, the other in gobmacked surprise at his students’ exhibition of love and appreciation.

James Clavell’s hand on the director’s helm ably results in a cohesive tale where all the characters grow, and the narrative never lags. The social sophistication of this movie’s focus on teenage sexuality, race, and the correct way to remedy any and all injustices

I can not recommend this movie highly enough. It packs an emotional wallop I enjoyed more and more as the movie spiral led towards an emotionally charged coda.

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