Sidney Poitier is quite an amazing actor. His screen presence is uttering convincing bringing a level to his characters that few actors approach. "To Sir, with Love" is often as one of his best performances . I suppose it is but he has several. In this one Mark Thackeray, a young engineer looking for work takes a teaching position in a challenging inner-city school, where it sounds like they'll hire just about anybody.
You know the drill. Initially he is met with resistance and disrespect. His fellow teachers, cynical and burned out, are no help at all with the unruly working class students. But Thackeray gradually wins them over with his patience, understanding, respect and unwavering belief in their potential to be good adults.
The thing about Sidney Poitier is that he was never an amazing black actor. It's that he was always an amazing actor. This was a man that came to the barriers of race in his career, blew right past them and kept on going. Yet remarkably in his work, his character is never a positive role black man, but a positive role man. Race is addressed in these films, but it's never a dependent characteristic of the character - not a definitive part of the character's identity. At the same time, the character's race and the challenge it sets up is stated and acknowledged, as the environment which the character must deal deal with and move through. Poitier 's way of walking this fine line is something everyone should admire and aspire to.
Anyway, as a bonus "To Sir, with Love" also offers a glimpse into the social and cultural climate of '60s London. Fun stuff pop-culture stuff...
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