Education Is for All the Kids Who Couldn’t Keep Up
By: Marcus Rone
Tags: Cinema, Film, Movies, Film Reviews, Filmmaking

Education follows the life of a 12 year old boy named Kingsley (who is partially inspired by the director Steve McQueen’s own upbringing). Kingsley is a very bright kid with dreams of becoming an astronaut, the only catch is that he struggles with his reading. He and his mother are told by the school’s headmaster that he should be taken out of his current institution and instead be placed in a special school for kids who have difficulty keeping up with their other classmates. While a special school designed to pay attention to Kingsley’s specific needs sounds great in theory, the school ends up being anything close to a proper education. Kingsley finds himself going from the difficulty of keeping up with others around him, to a situation that seems hopeless.

What makes the situation Kingsley is in so heartbreaking is his inability to explain his needs to his parents and others around him. He doesn’t want to come off as stupid or be labeled an idiot, but at the same time he desperately needs to inform someone with power around him of his situation so that he can get the help he needs to succeed. Kingsley is a very smart kid and in no way deserves to be treated as anything but smart (as is the case with any child or person for that matter), but he is deeply afraid of what others will think of him if he is vulnerable to those around him, even his own family. Anyone who had difficulty in their learning as a child knows this struggle all too well. While it’s great when you have parents who are understanding and are willing to take the extra step to get you the help you need, not all parents are as understanding as they should be.

Image: Amazon Prime Video

That fear of misunderstanding and being labeled as an idiot creates a deep seeded anxiety that can follow you your whole life. This and more is expressed poetically and subtly by our lead actor, Kenyah Sandy, who makes his incredible debut in this film (he’s also in this years holiday film Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey). Sandy could have easily gone the melodramatic route, over expressing himself at every difficult moment, potentially undermining the emotional momentum of the film. Instead, the actor amazingly plays on the crippling nervousness of the situation his character is in, often acting very reserved and quiet in most scenes. That makes his inevitable breakdown towards the end of the film so devastating. It’s a truly remarkable performance, and maybe one of the best debuts from a child actor I have ever seen.

Showing the pain and strife associated with a difficult early education is important, but it’s equally crucial to show how uplifting and inspiring it can be to see those who struggle succeed spectacularly. At the end of the film, after Kingsley’s difficulty with reading is known to his mother, we see him attend a special school at a woman’s house. We immediately see how this educational experience is different then what Kingsley is used to. Not only is the teacher more attentive and understanding of each student’s needs and way of learning, but the environment is one of acceptance and empathy. These things make all the difference in a child’s life. In the last scene of the film we see Kingsley reading to his family at the breakfast table. Up until that point, he could hardly read a single word, but now after getting the attention and love he needed, is reading like a boy should at his age. It’s an incredibly powerful moment that is earned so well by the exceptional direction of McQueen and the spectacular performance by Sandy.

Maybe this movie doesn’t mean that much to people who didn’t struggle all that much with their education. Sure this movie will most likely effect you emotionally as it’s an exceptional piece of filmmaking, however, this hits differently for those of us who struggled at a young age. As someone who grew up for the majority of my youth thinking I was stupid and wouldn’t achieve much in the way of academics, I am grateful for this movie. It’s something you don’t really understand as a child but nonetheless feel and are only able to fully grasp what you were going through after you have grow up and reflected on your experience. What is amazing about films like this one is in their ability to show us from the god eyed view of cinema what we went through when we were living our trials at the time. Movies ultimately are made so that we can understand others and ourselves a little bit better, and I for one am incredibly indebted to this one.