Product: Educating Rita (UK) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ]
Rating: 5.0
RITA!!
I first saw this film one early fall morning after I had worked an all-nighter. I watched in deep somber as Micheal Caine formed a woman out of stone. This is a film closely related to the Pygmalion (sp?) story. I have learned that fact from a teacher at the college I now attend. I was once like Rita...common, confused, complacent in the ordinary ways of my limited existence, but my intelligence and desire to refine it slowly bubbled to the top. This movie is an inspiration to anyone who loves to learn, and to anyone who loves to live. And it's a beautiful depiction of the life we all find as we venture away from our common surroundings into a world filled with geniuses, charlatans, drunks, dreamers, and institutionalized philistines. I also love the way Dr. Bryant is influenced and inspired by his pupil, Rita....he moves past his mid life crisis with help from a person who is attempting to overcome the urge to have an early one. Rita's vibrant and positive attitude drives Dr. Bryant to explore his bottomless pit of despair and alcoholism deeper than ever before(he cannot handle the fact that life is leaving him behind). After he reaches the bottom, (and is looked down upon harshly by his colleages) he receives a new chance to start a bright life in Australia....he too eventually moves past the common complacency he had sunk into. This film is art!! Buy it!