When Jamal Wallace is awarded an incredible opportunity at a presigious prep school he must be prepared that people won’t believe someone from the Bronx can be as gifted as he was with writing and playing basketball. The old man he meets as a mentor will help him realize his potential.
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Forrester had been living as a recluse for many years, having written one novel he found the attention from that was just too much. Especially when people would decide they knew what he was trying to say in the story and dissecting it in ways he never intended. When he met Jamal he saw something in him and wanted nothing more than to help support his journey, especially the move to a new school which was never going to be easy.
Professor Crawford who was his English teacher did not and could not believe that everything he was submitting was his own work and thought he was somehow stealing it from someone else. Mainly because he didn’t want Jamal to be that good of a writer. We do find out that his attempts at being a writer failed and he then ended up teaching.
Jamal was needed for the basketball team to get them to winning ways and for some people within the school set up that was all that really mattered, the thing is though this school was a path out of a tough neighbourhood and live for him. He needed this to help with his overall life and did not want to lose that after seeing what had happened and was happening to his family and friends.
The mentor to student role was done in a very nice manner, showing that they could both try and help support one another through the difficulties they were facing in life. I find that something to always remember that no matter how old you are that you can still learn from others and quite frankly need thats support.
Sean Connery is just wonderful in this role and in all honesty the only thing I could think about was why it’s taken me 24 years to catch up with this film. He is given some wonderful moments and I really enjoyed the “Are you from Ireland” “Scotland” exchange as you can just imagine him wanting that in there he was such a proud Scotsman. Rob Brown was really engaging as Jamal and worked so well with Connery which was good to see. Anna Paquin was good in a supporting role and the same with F. Murray Abraham, making viewers dislike his bias.
