Last night I watched Detachment which deals with the crumbling American
education system through the eyes of substitute teacher Henry Barthes (Adrian Brody) who starts a new assignment in a new school with new teachers, in a new class with new pupils like he is obviously used to. Detachment is an intense drama that stars Adrien Brody, Marcia Gay Harden, and Christina Hendricks!
In Detachment, Henry struggles to make a difference, all the while knowing that he's failing miserably. He sees nothing but people who have given up, and he's within of inch of giving up on himself. His personal life is a mess; his grandfather (Louis Zorich), in the advances states of some kind of dementia, languishes in a nursing home staffed by people who simply don't care. He has flashbacks of a childhood scarred by the absence of a father, an alcoholic mother, and a deep tragedy. He eventually takes in an underage prostitute named Erica (Sami Gayle). He's saddened by her situation and even helps her in a few important regards, but he doesn't coddle her like a frightened puppy. He wants to get through to her that she has value as a person, that she's so much better than giving oral sex to men on buses. He's also tortured by the fact that their arrangement can't last forever.
All I can say is that Detachment is an exceptional movie in all aspects. I highly recommend this sad drama.