Won't Back Down

Won't Back Down (2012) is Daniel Barnz's social drama, available to watch online on iFILM. It follows two mothers from opposite ends of the economic ladder who share one goal: rescue the failing inner-city school where their kids are stuck.

Jamie Fitzpatrick (Maggie Gyllenhaal) works two jobs and watches her dyslexic daughter get ignored in an overcrowded classroom. Veteran teacher Nona Alberts (Viola Davis) lost faith in the system long ago. Together they take a long shot — wresting the school away from district officials and the union to rebuild it on their own terms. The bureaucracy fights back hard. Holly Hunter, Oscar Isaac and Rosie Perez fill out the cast.

The movie is openly inspirational and, at times, naive, smoothing over the real debate around school reform. But Davis and Gyllenhaal carry it; watch it for the two leads, not the politics. A solid pick if you like stories of underdogs squaring off against the system. Stream Won't Back Down (2012) online on iFILM.