The
film is supposedly based on true events, but they don’t tell where or
when, so you have to trust that the screenplay doesn’t go too far
afield.. The story is about a mother, Jamie Fitzpatrick (Maggie
Gyllenhaal), who has a dyslexic daughter, Malia (Emily Alyn Lind), that
she feels is not getting the help needed and, when turning to the
principal of the school (Bill Nunn), is told he can’t do anything about
it. Malia’s teacher  (Nancy Bach) is described as the laziest and
highest paid teacher in school but has tenure so nothing can be done.
(For the record Nancy Bach is a highly regarded professor in the theatre
department of Point Park University.) At the same school is a teacher,
Nona Alberts (Viola Davis), recently separated from her husband, who
loves to teach but the students aren’t interested in learning. She has a
son, Cody (Dante Brown) who is considered‘slow’.

Take
a desperate mother, working two jobs and still unable to put her
daughter in a private school, a teacher worn down by the system who join
to change things and you have the movie “Won’t Back Down”! When you
have a stellar cast where Rosie Perez (a teacher) and Holly Hunter--who I
did not recognize--(as a union leader), Ving Rhames, as the principal
of a charter school ,and Ned Eisenberg (another union leader) are in,
basically, throw-away roles you know the acting will help manipulate
you. Oh yes, when Jamie tells Michael (Oscar Isaac), a teacher, that he
has a cute butt, you know where that is going. Michael also plays the
ukulele and teaches his students how to line dance. Later on, when in a
bar where Jamie works at night, they get Nona to line dance there will
be a smile on your face as Viola Davis looks like she is having a ball.

There
is no question that Daniel Barnz blames the state of our schools on the
Teacher’s Union even if he gives them a few minutes to give their side
as they see things. As a director he makes the lives of his characters,
who live in Pittsburgh, realistic but, also, as a director the films
runs 3 minutes too long. He had a perfect time to end it and the extra
minutes really don’t add to the story except make it run over 2 hours.

“Don’t Back Down” will having you crying, smiling and cheering but, except for the actors, there is nothing new in the story.