To Sir, With Love | Critique

Based on E. R. Braithwaite celebrated book by the same name, To Sir, With Love is a fine example where a simple nice story backed by decent performances and a good song attains cult status over years. As the saying goes, its difficult to be simple; Sidney Poitier starrer achieves that without much difficulty.

 

Mark Thackeray (Poitier) joins a school in London as a teacher. This job is not a passion for him. Its sort of a stop gap arrangement before he can get a good job. The students are rough and like to bother every new teacher. Other teachers in school are least bothered about them. They do their work mechanically. They are not interested in children and their growth as individual. Thackeray finds it difficult to adjust to this environment. He decides to make some elementary changes in approach. As the story flows, we realize what impact the changes had on the psychology of children, how it influences their outlook towards life and what they make out of their life.

 

Well supported by entire cast, Poitier plays his role with great conviction. Though it’s sort of a routine role for the Academy winner, it’s worth to note that the conviction Poitier shows in his character shows how close he is to the persona of Mark Thackeray. Lulu’s music was another highlight of the movie. Title song sung by her contributed a lot to the popularity of the movie. Direction is good but nothing to write home about.

 

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh