College cinema typically glorifies the social aspect of the college experience. Higher Education does the opposite by focusing on the challenges and prejudices a vulnerable college student experiences. This film shows an extremist view of segregation of races, ethnicities, sexes, and religions and frays from the conventional path of college movies.
The film follows three characters through their freshmen year of college. Each is meant to represent a specific group. An African-American boy who runs track at the university shows the struggle of an African-American student as he experiences racism for his skin color. A young woman who is raped very early on displays the worst fears of a girl trying to protect herself in college life. Lastly, there is the Caucasian boy who has trouble fitting and finding himself. He attaches himself to an extremist communist group. Each group is represented in a drastic way that at times seems a little too much. The purpose of each character is overdone as they fill these stereotypical roles. The point of their stereotypes matched with below-average acting makes the film predictable and a little “cheesy.”
A good college film should have a strong lead character who is usually an adolescent. He (or she) should be admirable and relatable as he finds himself as a person on campus. The college experience is very much about individuals which is why the main character must be strong and prominent within the film. It should involve the social aspect as well as the education within the classroom itself. The film should also show the relationships formed through the college experience since they are such a large part of what defines the individual. Higher Education most definitely fills this criteria for a “good” college film but I think that it was trying too hard to display its central theme of how college should be a place to let go of racial divides. The way the characters are portrayed creates a very obvious divide between races that builds an atmosphere that makes this university hard to relate to as a viewer. It almost turns into a movie about black vs. white making the white man seem evil. Everything is put to the largest extremes and the worst case scenario that the viewer really questions the reality of this film.
The best audience for the film would be someone who is looking for a college film that takes on different challenges of a student, especially one that is a minority. Higher Education is not looking to glorify the college experience. It sees the more difficult struggles that one may experience. It is a movie that looks make the viewer aware of the cultural divides that can be formed on a university campus even in modern times.
