Film Review: Detachment

Director: Tony Kaye

Debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011, Detachment is the story of life in an American high school through the eyes of supply teacher Henry Barthes (Adrien Brody). Similar in tone to Half Nelson which had Ryan Gosling as the lead taking on the role of supply teacher to a disruptive class with little prospects for the future. Barthes connects with three women that he meets, Sarah Madison (Christina Hendricks) who is another teacher at the school, Meredith (Betty Kaye) who is a pupil from his first class with a talent for art but very little self-confidence to constant criticism from her father and Erica (Sami Gayle) who is a teenager who has become a prostitute.

The message is clear and powerful throughout the film, looking at the failure of the system to help young people in the tough inner-cities of America gain an education. The pupils have no respect for authority and the teachers that are genuinely trying to help them but have little hope. The film isn't just a look at the failing of the American school system, it's a reflection on the broken society that we live in today and that isn't just exclusive to America.



Adrien Brody as supply teacher Henry Barthes



There are different characters who many people can relate to and that is the real power behind the story. James Caan plays a teacher on anti-depressants who uses comedy to get round the pupils aggressive behaviour as well as to entertain himself which adds some comic relief but still brings on depression at what some teachers have to go through.

There are certain storylines that are slightly predictable and perhaps over-dramatized compared to real life for the sake of cinema but it didn't detract from how much the movie affected me. One of the opening scene when a pupil threatens Barthes over a piece of paper is intense and perfectly pitched, it sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Adrien Brody is the man who wishes he could do so much more but can't, he's so devoted to teaching that he has no life outside of school and quite possibly is a supply teacher because he doesn't want to become too emotionally invested in his class of students. Brody produces an absolutely stunning performance as someone trying to do the right thing but swimming against the tide and is supported by impressive performances from Sami Gayle in particular.

4/4 unflinching yet touching look at life in the American high-school system