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Movie Description
This inspiring documentary tracks the progress of Catherine Borek, a high school teacher in Compton California who is determined to start a drama troupe in a school that is dominated by a champion basketball team and is otherwise full of hopeless, helpless kids. Pulling her students together and motivating them by telling them that they are talented and they can prove themselves, she gives them the script for OUR TOWN, the classic play by Thornton Wilder about a small community in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. With frequent cuts to the 1977 television rendition of the play starring Hal Holbrook, OT: OUR TOWN slowly but surely establishes the gigantic differences between the crime-ridden ghetto that is Compton and the idyllic homogeneous safe haven of Grover's Corners. The kids who are to star in the play first approach it with amusement, coloring the actions of the play with their own music, insights, and experiences. But they soon encounter seemingly insurmountable challenges, and that is when the film diverges from the play's production to show the real family and friends behind these struggling students. An inspiring and honest piece of filmmaking directed and produced by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, OT: OUR TOWN is a tale of modern urban struggle and strife with a happy ending.
Industry Reviews
"...[A] modest, moving documentary....Mr. Kennedy observes his subjects with sympathy and tact..."
New York Times - A. O. Scott (08/15/2003)
"...A saga as heartening as the irresistible SPELLBOUND....OT has the magical quality of a very particular reality caught on the fly..."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (08/15/2003)
"...Entertaining and heartening..."
Box Office - Sheri Linden (09/01/2003)
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