Thursday, October 30, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film: School of hard knocks

Small Voices is a worthy but dull ode to education

By Anthony Allison

Small Voices .tells the heartwarming story of an idealistic teacher struggling to make a difference in a benighted Philippines village by encouraging her students to sing in a national choral competition.

Sadly, Filipino filmmaker Gil M. Portes' well-meaning drama is so dull, plodding and simplistic, these kids' small voices are unlikely to be heard above the mainstream movie cacophony.

Based loosely on the experiences of the director's niece, the film stars radiant TV actress Alessandra de Rossi as Melinda Santiago, a young substitute who arrives at the impoverished Malawig Elementary School. There, she meets the usual blackboard-jungle suspects: corrupt principal, friendly loan shark, Communist insurgents (who invariably wind up as bloody corpses in the river bed), and ignorant local peasants who view education as a meddlesome nuisance that prevents their progeny helping with the harvest or household chores.

Worse, it seems her colleagues, alumni of the Dan Quayle Pedagogical Academy, are teaching their pupils that the plural of potato is "potatos."

Yet when the flute-playing Melinda overcomes the insurmountable obstacles and starts her choir, instead of launching into a rousing rendition of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall," the little darlings transcend their miserable existence by warbling Joy Marfil's syrupy, Tagalog title song: "We come to you with voices small/One dream, one hope and with one goal/Peace, good bounty and hope for all." At least there aren't any singing nuns or lonely goatherds.

A subplot about two impoverished brothers sharing the same school uniform (a white shirt) invites regrettable comparisons with Majid Majidi's far superior Children of Heaven, in which two Tehran siblings share a pair of shoes.

And though the predictable finale may bring a lump to the throat of any viewers still in the theater, students can be forgiven for cutting this class and sneaking into something truly educational instead. The School of Rock, anyone?