Really beautifully crafted for the most part. I especially enjoyed the un-stuffiness of the interviews, music, and narration coupled with high quality production. The film captures powerful, emotional moments, and moves with a wonderful pace. It has a warmth of heart to it.

And what a wonderful story! It's Arizona's "Stand and Deliver" (Jaime Escalante story). A group of high school kids from a rough part of Phoenix beat not only MIT, but every other college in a tech competition. It'll put tears in your eyes.

But do know, this film is not just about these outstanding kids and their awesome teachers. The film clearly aims to shed a sympathetic light on the undocumented in America. This can be a highly charged issue (especially in Arizona), so I think you should be apprised of this fact before screening the film. That said, I think you should still see this film. I'm not taking sides, I'm just trying to gather as much information as possible about the issue which is becoming more and more in need of a solution.

Yes, I did feel a bit "tricked" into the politics here, but the filmmakers really have some great bait! So, I think it's worth sitting through some of the agenda which portrays a side of the story we don't hear very often. It focuses on the children of the undocumented, who, by no fault of their own, are saddled with a huge cultural/economic/social burden. Anyway, without the politics, I'd have given this documentary a solid A. It's that good, that emotional, and that inspirational. Kudos to the kids, teachers, and thinkers. The agenda integration subtracts from the doc on a composition level. B+/A- final grade. I'll round up.

-- Books by Ross Anthony, Author/Illustrator --