Won’t Back Down is a drama about an inner-city schoolteacher and struggling single mom who push through all kinds of obstacles to create their own school for their children. Based on true events, this story is about the determination of parents to do what they feel is necessary for their children, against all odds.
Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as Jamie Fitzpatrick, a struggling single mother with two jobs. She is fighting for a decent education for her daughter, an education that she herself seems to have been denied.
Viola Davis plays inner-city schoolteacher Nona Alberts, who is in a troubled marriage and has a learning disabled child. She’s a character haunted by the mistakes of her past and inspired by her deceased mother’s great teaching legacy.
Davis and Gyllenhaal pair as great co-stars and actresses.
The two women break through public school and governmental red-taped bureaucracy. The system is controversially portrayed in the film as dysfunctional and not working within the poorer neighborhoods of the inner city.
Jamie’s daughter Malia (Emily Alyn Lind) is stuck with a horrible teacher who doesn’t properly discipline or teach her students. The established bureaucratic system is to blame for this teacher’s bad behavior, and the teachers union seems to support it.
The teachers union is depicted as an establishment founded on great principles but somehow has grown into a goliath system that serves as a blockade for the birth of their new school. Many will undoubtedly disagree with the film’s characterization of the teachers union.
Holly Hunter plays Evelyn Riske, a union executive with deep emotional ties to the union. However, she is torn when she realizes that Jamie won’t sell out and that the union is not going to immediately better Malia’s education.
Evelyn’s character seems to lend sympathy to the union as does Michael Perry (Oscar Isaac), schoolteacher and love interest to Jamie. The film indicates that it’s a complicated system, and Jamie insists that she just wants a better education for her child right now. All of this adds solid, multilayered dynamics to the story.
Won’t Back Down packs in great acting from Davis and Gyllenhaal. It’s a controversial subject matter because of the union element, but it’s a story with a terrific inspirational, overcome-all-odds quality. Whether you agree or disagree with the message is up to you, but the film is entertaining and worth seeing.
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