LA Weekly from Los Angeles, California • 39

Film H5W OQt-XMD ffi0OOto0G Teachers Pet gression of vignettes that set up the main conflicts: Escalante vs. apathetic students; Escalante vs. a burned-out teaching staff that includes gym teachers enlisted to teach math; and Escalante vs. the vatos, gang youth, embodied in the characters of Angel (Lou Diamond Phillips, whos a lot more fun here than in La Bamba and Chuco (Danny Villarreal). Both Angel and Chuco appear incorrigible at first vato pride in vSvrf Despite its flaws, Stand and Deliver remains an entertaining and meaningful film and a genuinely moving one not without its share of statements.

dward James Olmos, better known as 13 Eddie, for once had a leisurely amount T3 of time to research a role almost a year and a half. His portrayal of Jaime Escalante, the Bolivian-born calculus teacher whose unorthodox methods made history at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, is all the more authentic for it. Not that Olmos previous roles didn't display a similar intensity and sensitivity to detail. His first major role as the Pachuco in both the stage and screen versions of Zoot Suit, won him accolades Later came The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez and a smaller but enigmatic part in Blade Runner, and finally his hardened Lt. Castillo on Miami Vice.

Since Cortez, however, Olmos had hungered for a role that would fulfill his artistic sensibilities as well as social and cultural ones. He found his protagonist in Jaime Escalante. So it was that Olmos, himself a graduate of Montebello High School on the East Side, returned to his roots on screen, at least. In reaUife terms, Olmos never really left. Hes a fixture in the L.A.

arts community, as well as a community activist. We spoke to Olmos at Garfield High School recently, the real-life classroom that Jaime Escalante continues to use as his base of operations for converting students intimidated by calculus into top scorers on the Advanced Placement tests given every year in May. Escalante was present that day as well, and it was easy to see the camaraderie between the two; one based on the months they spent together to ensure a realistic portrayal for Stand and Deliver. Olmos has lost the weight he put on for the film, and his hair, which had been thinned to resemble Escalante balding pate, has grown out to its usual shock of black flecked with a few gray hairs. Olmos (right) and the real-life Escalante.

Calculated Risks the extreme. Although Chuco will not grow out of his seemingly predestined barrio role, that vicious dialectic of selfnegation and pride noted by Octavio Paz in The Labyrinth of Solitude, Angel will. Slowly but surely, Escalante will win him over. We soon found out how and why. Escalante is a genuinely unique, exciting figure at times outlandish, whimsical, impassioned; at others insensitive and narrow-minded.

But his philosophy of ganas (desire as the key to success) and his dynamic personality suck the kids in, and they are transformed not miraculously, but through an inordinate amount of hard work and self-discipline into academic success stories. For Olmos, playing Escalante is a homecoming: Hes said it was the kind of role hed been searching for since The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez. Having grown up in East L.A. himself, he plays Escalante lovingly, consistent in mannerisms and accent, completely caught up in the comic and tragic aspects of his characters personality. He even gained 40 pounds and radically thinned his hair to replicate Escalantes physical presence.

Director Menendez has skillfully captured both the school and the kids home environments. Nothing is prettified we are given barrio life in its beautiful-ugly rawness. Casting choices for the kids are generally brilliant theres the bespectacled egghead that no classroom should be without in Javier (Patrick Baca); the soft-spoken, delicate and equally brilliant Ana (Vanessa Marquez); Tito (Mark Eliot) is the rocker; Claudia (Karla Montana), the class queen; and Pancho and Lupe (Will Gotay and Ingrid Oliu) are two conflict-filled adolescents who bring their pain to catharsis through an awkward but honest romance. All have fme acting moments in a classroom that comes off as incredibly real. This writer, who himself teaches part-time in the L.A.

city schools, sometimes on the East Side, could not have felt more at home with their portrayals. tand and Deliver is not without its share of problems, however. First, theres the choice of telling the story vignette-style; some of the segments have an uncomfortable, contrived air about them. While the form allows writers Menendez and Tom Musca to compact two continued on next page dangerous time for Latino artists. Stand and Deliver reminds us of both the risks and the possibilities inherent in the film business.

There are several technical successes as well as failures in this film, but the warmth at its center and Edward James Olmos effective portrayal of Escalante keeps it from floundering. The fact that such a film, produced originally by Ramon Menendez and Olmos himself with funding from American Playhouse, was picked up by Warner is no small marvel. Many feared Hollywood would treat Latinos only to hip, slick productions like La Bamba (in which story was, to an extent, subverted by an emphasis on style) in entering the Latino market. Still, Warners is only distributing the film, and accordingly, Stand and Deliver's Playhouse budget didnt even hit $2 million. Major studio production backing probably would have meant a smoother product, but within its limitations, the film often achieves an honesty that no amount of dollars could ensure.

tand and Deliver is at its best when at its most modest and realistic and the films particular brand of gritty realism is one of its true achievements. An opening montage explores East L.A., giving us scenes of life in a barrio invisible to mainstream American culture (in L.A., the border is the L.A. river), with details that usually are food for stereotype mariachis, pinatas but the realistic context and some smart juxtapositions make this montage a wonderful screen poem. From there on, were given a linear pro- Of you dont know the story yet, you should. Its one of those real-life experiences tailor-made for the book or the movie, and its garnered plenty of press over the years.

In 1974, a Bolivian emigre named Jaime Escalante entered Garfield High School near 6th and Atlantic in East L.A. for his first day as the schools new computer-science teacher, only to discover that there werent any computers. Besides this lack of resources, the school suffered from the usual inner-city predicaments: teacher flight, apathetic students, gang problems, an astronomical dropout rate. But eight years later, Escalante, a maverick teacher who utilizes an ingenious blend of humor, ego-boosting and intimidation, was able to help more than a dozen Garfield students pass the Advanced Placement Calculus Test, an unheard-of achievement in the barrio. End of inspirational story, right? Wrong: The Educational Testing Service suggested that some of Escalantes students had cheated.

The students were forced to retake the test. They passed a breakthrough for the community and incontrovertible proof that barrio kids can make good as much as kids from Beverly Hills; in 1987, 129 Garfield High students took the A.P. test, an L.A. city record and an incredible fourth place nationwide. Stand and Deliver tells this story.

It comes to the screen in the midst of a Latino renaissance, one light-years away in both political and cultural terms from the Chicano movement of the early 70s. Now were saleable; that is to say, mainstream business America has discovered the Latino market, and its an exciting and WEEKLY: Why do you think people are going to want to see a movie about calculus students? Looks like a tough marketing job. DOS: The reason that this movie was made is the amount of humor this man has, and the way he touches people. And boy, its the most unorothodox behavior Ive ever seen in my life. Its wonderful, its so fresh, I mean, he makes one of the driest and hardest subjects in the world palpable; not only palpable, but understandable, because he makes it easy and fun.

And thats a gift that should be understood and shared with everybody: that learning is fun and can be made easy, WEEKLY: We hear that you spent a lot of time with Escalante himself researching the project. CLf.lDS: Its the most Ive ever researched one single part, ever. First time Ive ever been given the luxury that DeNiro and Hoffman and Streep get: the advance i notice of what youre going to be doing a year and a half down the road and then taking advantage of the time. Thats how come their protrayals are so defined, so overwhelmingly convincing. WEEKLY.

How does this movie fit in culturally? I Wiat will Anglo audiences get from it? CLE2S: Everyone in the States is going to get a chance to look at a real innovative and dedicated human being who is making such a difference that the color of the skin i doesnt matter, religion doesnt matter; it doesnt matter how rich or how poor you are. It breaks all cultural barriers. Every continued on next page 39 '14.