Jonathan Storm: Reality check
Channel 12 presents an eye-opening documentary about six Philadelphia youths and their struggles to realize their dreams.
‘No child left behind” – except a few thousand every year on the mean streets of Philadelphia, or Camden or Wichita, or any other American city.It’s hard for middle-class people in the suburbs, not to mention Washington politicians, to understand the pressure in worlds that are a few miles away as the crow flies, but separated by a cultural continental divide. Now and then, some documentarian makes the trip and shares what he or she sees.
Benjamin Herold’s powerfully intimate First Person, airing tonight at 7:30 on WHYY TV12, is one of those letters home, a portrait of six young Philadelphians on the verge of their dreams, and the burdens they face in seizing them. It won two prizes at the 2008 Philadelphia Film Festival: Best Documentary and Best First-Time Film Director.
First Person is simply required viewing for those who care about our country’s future, especially those who think they have the answer on education. I don’t know if it’s school vouchers or teachers unions or something else, but, having seen First Person, I have a lot better idea what the question is.
Well crafted, with dynamite casting, the film is full of surprises, way more fascinating than Wheel of Fortune or Fox’s Hole in the Wall. Herold, trained more in urban education (he has a master’s degree from Temple) than filmmaking, has pushed his project beyond the screen, helping mobilize people to work on problems encountered by his wonderfully complex protagonists. Screenings and discussions are scheduled around the city tonight. There’s more info at http://firstpersondocumentary.org
In 2004, Herold and his crew selected six high school juniors from a Temple program designed to give youths a leg up into college, and set out to follow them until they got there.
The youngsters speak of becoming neonatal nurses or computer engineers. Steve, a seemingly brilliant but frustratingly annoying slacker, figures he’ll be class president or captain of the glee club.
“If I could find a way to motivate him, I would give part of my salary,” says one of his teachers.
To reveal what happens to each student would undermine some of the film’s artistic pleasure. Steve, blessed with the intelligence to slide by, his motivation powered more by personality than work ethic, winds up where you might expect.
The life of another takes a shocking turn. Four graduate from high school. None, however, gets to a four-year college.
These are not the most disadvantaged children in the neighborhood. Some have two-parent families. One’s mother and grandmother graduated from Temple. Another has a sister at West Chester University.
But this last child finds himself living alone. “It’s supposed to be the teenage boy’s dream,” says Macho in his video diary (all students got camcorders to discuss their feelings). “It frigging sucks. It’s scary.”
Another young woman has the opposite problem. “I feel so old, like 60,” says Salisha, who, as oldest sister, has played the mother role in her family while her mother, admittedly, “ran the streets.”
These students and their families took a leap of faith in opening themselves up so candidly to Herold and his crew. They’re all still struggling, but they should be honored for their contribution to the public understanding of an immense, widely untapped American resource.
The castaways will be trying to make fire and avoid lions and snakes on the premiere of Survivor tonight, but First Person is what reality TV should be.