The First Year (2001)

Good concept, poorly executed.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The documentary "The First Year" follows five first year teachers into five schools in the Los Angeles area during the 1999-2000 school year. The teachers are passionate, driven, and full of the idealism of an unjaded educator. These are clearly strong, loving individuals who want to make a difference. Watching what lengths they will go to for the benefit of the students is admirable.The film's overall presentation of them is less so. Clearly a full school year's worth of footage was shot for each of the five individuals and their classrooms. Documentarian Davis Guggenheim directed "The First Year" several years prior to his work on the academy award winning "The Inconvenient Truth". Unfortunately this earlier work does not benefit from the same clear, unmuddled, realistic perspective of that later work.Clearly the film uses these five individuals to recruit new teachers. With that overarching intention, it makes the picture of modern education that much more sanitized as the film quickly paints over noticeable administrative issues or the needs to form a better link between parents and teachers. Using first year teachers as a statement of "it's not so bad, you should do it too" is imbalanced at best.

I am a professor in a college of education. I saw this movie when it was broadcast on PBS and purchased a copy of it for my Intro to Education classes. It is a realistic portrayal, though snapshot, of what it is like to be a new teacher (did middle school myself for many years). Each of the 5 teachers confront the myriad of problems that all first year teachers face. Their struggles and frustrations are evident. The movie runs approximately 80 minutes but is done so as a series of 10-12 minute vignettes. This allows one to view the movie over a number of classes, which I do with my Intro students. It is an effective instructional resource, but also an engaging undocumentary-like movie simply for the viewing. One witnesses numerous issues as they arise and these make for great discussion topics in a class. I strongly recommend this movie.

This is a fantastic, engaging, wonderful documentary. It chronicles the the first year of teaching in inner-city Los Angeles for five (and on DVD, six) first time teachers.The insight these heroes give into the rights and wrongs of the teaching profession are emotional and inspiring. It is a film that every citizen of this country must see.The DVD adds a promotional video called TEACH, and the teacher commentaries options provides further insight into the lives these five fascinating individuals that you cannot help but love.

I saw this documentary by chance on PBS last night. It chronicles the hardships of being an inter-city teacher in Los Angeles. Some segments are very emotional, such as when one teacher realizes how little his students have. The main thing that this documentary brings to mind, is that the teachers who are helping these kids out are heros. Heros that not many people in our country recognize.