Glenda Jackson had two Oscars by this time and began a run of art house films that didn't get her Academy attention but provided her more depth than the sex pots of her Ken Russell years. The role of Miss MacMichael is one of her better films as she plays a character I have known many times in real life with teachers long gone from my life who still remain locked in my memory. She is a teacher at a school for troubled British youth, kicked out of regular public schools and sent to the ultimate places for "special education".
Working under an imperious but buffoonish head master (a very funny Oliver Reed), she's really doing nothing more than her job asks her to do, but little bits of her own humanity touch the troubled students who slowly come to adore her. Along with the kindly Rosalind Cash, she sets up a craft shop that brings out their creativity, although for Reed and the other teachers, they remain quite difficult. These kids aren't easy, but Jackson isn't averse to the needs they have, even if her boyfriend (Michael Murphy) finds it all too much.
Highly comic, this has its dramatic elements, particularly the tale of a young black teen suffering from severe arrested development. Issues of teen sexuality, drug use, violent tendencies and aversion to authority are all dealt with. Dealing with baby hedgehogs, exploding lunch boxes, shop lifting students and purple paint takes her nearly to the edge. Throughout it all, Jackson gives her all, far from perfect but slowly learning how she can make a difference. After all, in education, isn't that what it is all about?
Working under an imperious but buffoonish head master (a very funny Oliver Reed), she's really doing nothing more than her job asks her to do, but little bits of her own humanity touch the troubled students who slowly come to adore her. Along with the kindly Rosalind Cash, she sets up a craft shop that brings out their creativity, although for Reed and the other teachers, they remain quite difficult. These kids aren't easy, but Jackson isn't averse to the needs they have, even if her boyfriend (Michael Murphy) finds it all too much.
Highly comic, this has its dramatic elements, particularly the tale of a young black teen suffering from severe arrested development. Issues of teen sexuality, drug use, violent tendencies and aversion to authority are all dealt with. Dealing with baby hedgehogs, exploding lunch boxes, shop lifting students and purple paint takes her nearly to the edge. Throughout it all, Jackson gives her all, far from perfect but slowly learning how she can make a difference. After all, in education, isn't that what it is all about?