The Hobart Shakespeareans (2005)

This documentary, just under an hour in length, is inspirational. It is both hopeful and frank. But most of all it sticks with you.
It tells the tale of a teacher in a fifth-grade classroom in a poor ethnic Los Angeles neighborhood. Hobart Boulevard Elementary School pupils (mostly Latino and Asian) are doing "Hamlet." And they are doing it well.
In Mel Stuart's fine and passionate documentary several things are clear. The 49-year-old teacher, Rafe Esquith, is a genius and a saint. The American education system would do well to imitate him. These children's lives have been changed by their year with this man. And it is not all about Elizabethan drama.
They are learning in every modality--verbal, kinesthetic, visual. Their classroom is incentivized with money. They get rewarded for their work, and they get penalized for not doing it. But it is the yearlong study of a single Shakespearean play that symbolizes Mr. Esquith's methods and his success. It is thrilling to hear a student read a speech of Ophelia's beautifully, to watch one express Gertrude's pain and to see yet another tackle the title role of the melancholy Danish prince. At the outset, Mr. Esquith does not cany coat Hamlet--he explains what "Hamlet" is about death. But more importantly, he links what is happening in the play to things that they can understand, so when these pint-sized actors read their lines, they actually know what they are talking about.
The children in the play come in every day to work on it, regardless of vacations. Mr. Esquith tells the camera that this is teaching them discipline, teamwork and sacrifice--he does not say it is easy, and he is clear that they do not all buy into it, but he is relentless and optimistic and resourceful. He gets well known actors to come to his classroom, and he raises money to take his class on trips, so they can see a world beyond their own. If they are going to get out of there, they need to see what they are aiming for.
Esquith is a man fond of mottoes: "Be nice and work hard." "There are no shortcuts." As Hamlet says: "Words. Words. Words." But words have impact. When he takes them to a college campus he tells the children: "This is the life you're working for. You can do this." He has former students that he has inspired who have made it contributing money to his current students' educations. Great to see.