Radical (film)

Radical
Sundance release poster
Directed by	Christopher Zalla
Screenplay by	Christopher Zalla
Based on	A Radical Way of Unleashing a Generation of Geniuses by Joshua Davis
Produced by	Benjamin Odell Joshua Davis Eugenio Derbez
Starring	Eugenio Derbez Daniel Haddad Jennifer Trejo Mia Fernanda Solis
Cinematography	Mateo London
Edited by	Eugenio Richer
Music by	Pascual Reyes Juan Pablo Villa
Production companies	3Pas Studios EPIC Magazine The Lift
Distributed by	Videocine (Mexico) Pantelion Films (USA)
Release dates	January 19, 2023 (2023-01-19) (Sundance) October 20, 2023 (2023-10-20) (Mexico)
Running time	125 minutes
Country	Mexico
Language	Spanish
Box office	$13.1 million

Radical is a 2023 Mexican comedy-drama film written and directed by Christopher Zalla. It is based on the 2013 Wired article, "A Radical Way of Unleashing a Generation of Geniuses" by Joshua Davis. The film stars Eugenio Derbez as the teacher Sergio Juarez.

The film, which is Zalla's second directorial film, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it was the recipient of the Festival Favorite Award. It was released in Mexico on October 20, 2023.

Plot

In 2011, a new teacher, Sergio Juarez Correa, arrives at the poorly-run Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary in Matamoros, a border city directly across from Brownsville, Texas. In an oppressive environment rife with drug cartel violence, students at the school suffer from some of the worst academic scores in all of Mexico. Given the run-down facilities and lack of educational resources such as computers, the majority of the instructors have little motivation to teach and focus mainly on getting their classes to pass government-mandated standardized tests that do nothing to inspire actual learning.

Sergio surprises his sixth graders by taking an unorthodox approach to teaching and encourages them to solve problems creatively. To help them think mathematically, for example, he transforms the classroom, turning all the desks upside down to hypothetically represent boats in an ocean. Through this new method, he is able to get his students to determine the right answer. When the school principal, Chucho, checks on the class, he is as baffled as they are.

After continued efforts, this style of instruction begins to have a positive impact on the children academically. Having given his class the ability to think independently, Sergio inspires his sixth graders to have confidence and achieve a potential beyond their impoverished circumstances. His alternative approach involves student-led learning that gets the kids involved and engaged like they never were before. When it becomes clear the results are positive, even Chucho grows supportive of Sergio.

By promoting independent thought, Sergio eventually runs afoul with a visiting administrator when his students openly discuss issues of morality. He attempts to defend their new way of learning but is sidelined and becomes disillusioned, eventually withdrawing from his teaching responsibilities. As a result, his class regresses academically.

Concerned about him, Chucho approaches Sergio at his home to encourage him to not give up on his sixth graders. After some soul-searching, Sergio reconnects with his gifted student, Paloma, and convinces her father to let her pursue her dreams of becoming an aerospace engineer. With the academic year ending, he rushes to the school during standardized testing and urges his class to keep believing in themselves. His students take heart and do well on the tests. Some of them eventually go on to find success in private business and work for Big Tech companies in the United States.

Cast

• Eugenio Derbez as Sergio
• Daniel Haddad as Chucho
• Jennifer Trejo as Paloma
• Gilberto Barraza as Papa Pamplona
• Mía Fernanda Solís as Lupe
• Erwin Veytia as Sr. García
• Victor Estrada as Chepe
• Enoc Leaño as Administrator
• Mia Fernanda Solis
• Danilo Guardiola

Reception

Box office

Radical has grossed $7.8 million in Mexico and $5.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $13 million.

The film was released in the United States on November 3, 2023, and made $2.7 million from 419 theaters that opening weekend, finishing in fifth place with a "very strong" per-venue average of $6,516. During the second weekend, it expanded to another 115 locations and grossed $1.75 million, coming in tenth place with a 66% hold.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 52 reviews are considered positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Offering few surprises but plenty of uplift, Radical tells a stirring fact-based story brought to life by some top-flight work from Eugenio Derbez." As per Metacritic, the film has received "generally favorable reviews", with a weighted average score of 71/100 based on 14 critics' ratings.

The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney wrote that "director Christopher Zalla adheres to the subgenre's conventions and doesn't stint on sentimentality, but Radical more than earns its surging emotional payoff". Johnny Oleksinski, reviewing the film in the New York Post calls Radical "a Spanish-language gem about a real teacher's impact on a poor Mexican border town".

In her review for the New York Times, Natalia Winkelman wrote that Radical is "a sentimental drama that is based on a true story but boxes neatly into familiar packaging. The title is nearly oxymoronic: It boldly belies how close to convention the film hews." Echoing criticism over the film's formulaic style, Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com opined that "Radical feels too often like its drama has been copied from a tearjerking textbook; it’s nearly flagrant about having so many predictable beats" and noted that while "there’s no inherent problem with aiming to be a crowd-pleaser, [...] the heartwarming real stuff feels too good to be true."

External links

• Radical at IMDb