Won't Back Down Preview

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a single mother and bartender struggling to provide a life for her daughter who is struggling in school in Won't Back Down.  She teams up with one of the teachers (Viola Davis) to not only bring light to the problem of the failing school, but take head on the corrupt bureaucracy that is running the school. 

The preview starts with Jamie's (Gyllenhaal) daughter standing in front of her classmates being belittled by her peers and her teacher for not being able to read.  In fact, the teacher (sure to be a representative of the bureaucratic public school system that has failed our children) puts her in a supply closet to teach her a lesson. We also see another one of the teachers (Davis) at home with her own son struggling to perform at his grade level.  And the fight begins to fix the failing and corrupt school system.  Jamie teams up with the only honorable teacher around (Davis) and takes on the president of the teachers' union (Holly Hunter - returning to the screen after a seven year hiatus) and the principal (Bill Nunn) of the school.

Won't Back Down is based on the true events in Los Angeles, California that lead to what is known as The Parent Trigger Law which gives control to the parents to make administrative changes in the public school system when the current administration demonstrates they are unwilling or unable to perform their duties with the best interest of the students in mind and fails to show positive results.  Some have critiqued the movie as nothing more than an emotional simplification of the problem with the agenda of propagating The Parent Trigger Law.  I hope that's not the case.  The preview for Won't Back Down certainly portrays the movie as highly emotionally charged; but I have to admit, I'm a sucker for these kinds of movies where the underdog stands up to corruption,  especially where children's education is concerned.  And I'm also a sucker for Maggie Gyllenhaal and can't think of anything she's done that I haven't enjoyed.  I'm predicting an infuriating movie, emotional ride with tearful moments and moments of joy.  I don't have expectations for an Oscar movie, but am hoping for a solid 4 star experience.  Am I right?  We shall see.