Movie Review (26 Nov 2008)

The Reading Room

Ok, this week’s movie review is from the title The Reading Room. The movie starts off with a funeral. Sad? Not really. First, let me introduce the character. Mr. Williams, a retired successful businessman became a widower as his wife passed away. A wonderful wife she was, she left a video message for her husband, with a lovely message of happiness but most importantly, an idea on how to use their vast collection of books to good use. They had a property in their old neighbourhood, and she suggested using the place and turning it into a place where the community can come in and read without paying, just like a library. She gave him a tryout period of 3 months, plus he could live up his dream of becoming a teacher.

With nothing else to do, as he sold his family frame making company to a bunch of shareholders, no children to take care of, he has got nothing to lose. So, transferring the books from his to the occupied lot, an optimistic Mr. William sets out to fulfil his wife’s wishes of opening the little place. One week passed by and no turn out. It’s not that there wasn’t anybody around, oh, there were people. There is a basketball area right in front of the lot, but nobody walked into his place. As he observe his new ‘neighbours’, some kids were fighting over a can of soda. Now, this is a hard neighbourhood, where a can of soda would be shared among several children. Suddenly, the light bulb above his head turned on, and up comes the Free Soda sign. Running down the street, three boys pass the sign and paused. Contemplating on who should go in first, one boy made a bold move and went in to ask if the sign was ‘real’. Getting the nod they needed, they became a regular at the Room. Vanessa, a girl who would later be his shop assistant, came in and suggests that he should have some variety of magazines, specifically with the juicy gossips. This is not really the type of reading materials that, as you can tell from the collection, Mr. William is used to but he gave it a shot.

A new person with somehow a good intention is normally not that welcomed into the society he is trying to blend into by making an impact. This is obviously in the case of Mr. William. First, the ‘Reverend’ from the local church, who looked more like a Mafia head to me with all his bodyguards, came and gave a ‘visit’. Acting ‘on behalf of the community’, he was just checking out his new neighbour, with a stern yet subtle warning on how new comers come in and bring hope then leave when all everyone were giving their trust. It’s not an uncommon theory, especially regarding those ‘rich people’ who think that their money, sympathy and ‘kind gestures’ can make a sudden difference, and when a new opportunity arises, they just leave. And in a community who has seen it all, it’s no wonder that people usually respond badly to these ‘gestures’. But on the other hand, the Reverend did make a suggestion, as it was a ‘Black’ cum ‘Asian’ cum ‘Hispanic’ neighbourhood, Mr. William might want to include literatures that interest these parties, not just the common classics. Realising his lack of knowledge in the field, Mr. William went off to the local college to obtain information regarding literatures on the genre and came back with a whole new set of books.

As problems of getting people to come to his little corner was not enough, his was also burgled where his computer that he has set up in the area of the lot was stolen and he was also forced to ‘part’ with his car at gunpoint.

Things did not all go bad. A sweet little girl came into his ‘room’ one day and asked him if he could teach her to read. Curious, he asked why, and she explained that her mother may be giving an overdose of medication to her younger brother but as neither she nor her mother could read, she is not able to help in this situation. Her name was Majori and throughout the movie, you can see her reading skills started to improve, and she even started to teach her younger brother.

There is also a flip turn in the story of his stolen computer. As it turned out, the police caught the perpetrator and requested for Mr. William to identify his stolen goods. He in turn ask if he may see the boy, then went on to interrogate him on his motive of stealing the item, what price did he get for it (which was only 50 dollars, and thought that it wasn’t worth the effort), and agreed to drop the charges if the thief, Javier, agreed to work for him as his security officer. A young man brought up in this area, with a hard life background and no understanding of the future took this deal not too seriously, as several incident arises when he did not show up for work. Given the ultimatum either to continue working or to go on life without ever being able to make something out of himself, Javier walked out of Mr. William. Later on, he backed Mr. William about standing on his own two feet and had an argument with his cousin.

Meanwhile, a teacher had been following the progress made by Majori, and brought in Jared, a boy who excels in Maths, but has a lot of trouble reading. Going back to the local college to find help, Mr. William met with a young lady, Vanessa, who is pursuing a career in education. When mentioned the neighbourhood Oaklane, the girl backed out, saying that she had been studying hard to make something out of herself so that she can have the money to get away from that neighbourhood. Trying his luck with other ‘educators’, his search failed at the mention of the word ‘Oaklane’. Not giving up, Mr. William was determined to teach Jared himself, only to be saved by none other than Vanessa who showed up after being touched by the sign he posted on the college notice board ‘if you help this child, then you would be fulfilling you true self as an educator’.

The place did not only provide a learning sanctuary for the children, it was also used by a 17 year old boy, Darryl to study for his SAT exam. When he first walked in, The Reading Room did not have books to cater his need, but Mr. William told him to come back the next day and he will provide the needed resources. One week later, Darryl showed up, and had been doing exercises in the place throughout the movie, watching everything that went by. Darryl has problems of his own, where although he is smart, like Jared he also has a reading problem. He reads to slow, so naturally he was disappointed that he did not do well in the SAT. When the 'gang' found out the case, they went round to the principal's office to ask for Darryl to have a retake exam, without time limits... (yes, they have that in the States).. Anyway, the school was quite unwilling to help and they had to be persuaded heavily by Mr. William. Shows how much a school seem to do ' all they really can' to help a student, don't they? They seem to have given up on the students, arguing that the student did their expected results - and i thought Malaysian schooling system was bad -

Anyway, Darryl did manage to do well in the retake exam even qualified himself for a scholarship.

Well, I would recommend you watch this movie if you have another opportunity to do so. I won't give away anything more, as I, as usual have put off completing this entry for almost a week... What to do la with this girl.. malas semacam, kan.... susah tol...