RADICAL

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Storyline (warning: spoilers)

Inspired by the 2013 Wired article “A radical way of unleashing a generation of geniuses,” which explored the success of some innovative teaching methods in an impoverished Mexican community, Radical follows the journey of a teacher in a Mexican border town full of neglect, corruption, and violence, who tries a radical new method to unlock his students' curiosity, potential - and maybe even their genius.
Who will the sixth-grade students at Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary in Matamoros become? They are among the worst performing students in Mexico, the world they know is one of violence and hardship, and their classrooms are dominated by an atmosphere of overbearing discipline, not possibility. It might seem like a dead end... but it is also the perfect place for new teacher Sergio Juarez to try something different. There's just one problem: Sergio (played by an amazing Eugenio Derbez) has no idea what he's doing. Written and directed by Christopher Zalla, the film is set in 2011 in the town of Matamoros, where vicious gangs have left a trail of blood around every corner. In this volatile environment, students at the José Urbina López Primary School wear crisp uniforms and diligently stand in single file, obeying their teachers’ pleas for silence, even though the sound of gunfire might erupt at any moment.
Among the kids trying to get by in this rough world is Paloma (Jennifer Trejo), a smart but shy girl whom we meet scavenging in the town dump near where she lives with her father. When Paloma finds a mirror, she seems to ask, “Who am I?” Nico (Danilo Guardiola Escobar), on the other hand, is the class clown, but that’s not the problem: He’s already started running contraband for the local cartel, and once you’re in, it’s hard to get out. As the title promises, Sergio does something unorthodox. Instead of teaching by means of rote repetition, he lets students tell him what they want to learn, at their own pace. And while his methods take a minute to work, when they finally click, a whole new future appears possible.