Charity's Place.com

TAKE THE LEAD

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: language, sensuality, thematic elements

Rated:

One of the most popular film topics is that of the world of dance. There are ballet films, ballroom dancing films, hip hop films, and Broadway-style films. All of them feature pretty much the same plot -- introducing a new frame of dance to an unwilling audience. Take the Lead is nothing spectacular, but is based on a true story and does have some memorable moments.

After an inner-city black school in New York is threatened with hooligans and crime sprees, the hard-nosed principle (Alfre Woodard) decides to take matters into her own hands. Most of the teachers yearn to escape and there is no one to oversee detention. That's when Pierre Dulaine (Antonio Banderas) walks into the head office. Having witnessed the brutal vandalism of the principle's car the night before returning from a dance competition, Pierre decides to approach the kids differently than those before him. Volunteering his time to instruct the teens in detention in the art of ballroom dancing, he is thrust into the midst of turf wars and petty arguments among a group of "bad apples." The principle doesn't believe he'll show up after the first couple of days, and can think of no worse punishment for the kids than a couple of hours with a ballroom dancer.

The teenagers are reluctant. They hate his choice of music. They think ballroom dancing is for "rich white slave owners." Frustrated with his inability to get through to them, Pierre recruits the assistance of his beautiful student Morgan (Katya Virshilas) to persuade them that dancing is beautiful, sensual, and powerful. Her impassioned performance of the tango enflames the students to try harder. His two most problem kids are Rock (Rob Brown), who suffers from an abusive home life and the recent loss of his brother through gang wars, and LaRhette (Yaya DaCosta), a social outcast due to her mother's prostitution. Pierre must bring the students together and train them for the ballroom competition, while warding off unwary and displeased parents.

At it's heart, Take the Lead is a story about learning to work together, to make compromises for the good of all, and ultimately of hope for inner-city schools. Pierre is every inch a gentleman. He opens doors for women, whether or not he knows them. He treats all of his students with respect, even when they are disrespectful in return. He wants to teach the teens life skills they will not learn on the street: he wants the women to be proud of themselves, to value their worth, so they will not let abusive boys push them around. He wants the boys to learn how to handle and approach the girls with respect, to be gentle. As he puts it, "Dancing is about compromise. The man is leading, yes, but it is the woman's choice to follow him." When his bike is stolen, he presses no charges, but instead wins its return by earning the respect of his students.

That being said, while I found it enjoyable, it was also difficult for me to connect emotionally to the characters. Part of this, I believe, was the approach to the filmmaking. It shifted back and forth between ballroom dancing and hip-hop, which took away some of the impact. There were a couple instances when I wasn't sure what was happening, and wondered if I had missed a plot point. But it is relatively decent. There is some profanity, the worst being a half dozen s-words, and two uses of GD. Some of the dancing is rather sensual, but not explicit. A boy grabs his clothed crotch while on the dance floor, and puts his hands down his pants in a joking response when a girl says she doesn't want to touch his hand, not knowing where it's been.

LaRhette is manhandled by one of her mother's clients, but her mother comes home before it goes too far. There are some fist fights among gang members. The value of marriage is also hinted at, with regards to Pierre mourning the loss of his wife some years before. His modest friendship and eventual courtship with his female partner at the dance studio is handled with grace. There's a lot to like about this film. It's more than dancing, and in a world that values such negative attributes, that's worth a lot in my book.