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He was a nuisance in class,
but he grew up a teacher
of TheColumnists.com
The primary reason why I still try to review all the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies on CBS is that they so often are head and shoulders above all the other made-for-TV movies you're going to see on any commercial TV network.
It's been awhile, I'll admit, since a Hallmark film has really knocked me out with its quality, so let me underscore this fact: The latest one called "Front of the Class," which premieres Sunday, Dec. 7, at 9 PM, ranks with the very best I've ever seen, such as that all-time tear-jerking classic "Promise" (1986) with James Garner, James Woods and Piper Laurie.
I mention "Promise" because it dealt with the life-changing level of responsibility older brother Garner had to bear with his mentally unstable younger sibling, played by Woods. It zeroed in on a real problem so many families face when a parent or child or sibling is suffering from some terrible malady and the burden for handling the afflicted one falls on one individual.
"Front of the Class," which is based on the book written by its real-life central character, Brad Cohen, and co-author Lisa Wysocky, reverses the situation in "Promise" because Cohen takes the responsibility for himself and his seriously disabling condition--Tourette's Syndrome.
This malady comes from faulty "wiring" in the human brain that causes victims of it to make sudden loud noises, usually accompanied by facial twists, neck jerking or some other physical manifestation. It is so far incurable and those who suffer from it invariably wind up isolated from so-called "normal" people because their presence in almost any environment is so disruptive.
In the movie, we meet Brad Cohen as a grade school youngster, played quite convincingly by child actor Dominic Scott Kay. Young Brad will erupt with "barking" noises and abrupt shouts, which drives his teachers crazy trying to maintain order in the classroom. He gets no support from his father (Treat Williams), who believes his son is just an incorrigible troublemaker and showoff. At best, the boy is treated as if he's just "hyper" and could control his actions if he really wanted to do so.
This creates a series of truly agonizing situations for Brad, whose teachers want to get rid of him. Tests show he's capable of doing good work in school, but his noisy behavior costs him time and he's rarely able to finish tests within the deadline, so his performance in class is roughly that of a "class clown" who just won't settle down.
Eventually diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome, Brad by then has a seriously estranged relationship with his dad. His mom is more supportive and his brother puts up with him, but he really has no allies willing to help him find his way in life. mainly because he's such a difficult young fellow to endure.
But the movie really gets going when we join the grown-up Brad Cohen as a college graduate, desperately trying to land a job in his chosen profession: school teacher. Why tackle such a job when he knows administrators and his fellow teachers think its lunacy to put such a man in a classroom? It's what interests him, though, and he knows he can use federal laws protecting disabled persons from being discriminated against in the workplace to land him a job.
Ultimately, we get to watch the adult Brad rebuild his life from ground zero, learning how to use his disability as a means of becoming a very entertaining classroom teacher whose students throughly understand why he's the way he is--and loving him for it.
Some of these little kids will break your heart. There's Amanda (Anna Rappaport), a part-Asian girl whose father believes she must be in the very fastest lane of education for her to excell the way he wants her to excell. Taken out of Brad's class because she needs a "normal" teacher, this bright, but troubled little girl keeps coming back to Brad's classroom, peering through the glass panel in the door until somebody gets her and takes her back to her new classroom.
Even more heartbreaking is the case of Heather (Kathleen Shepler), a truly beautiful, but frail little girl who has a terminal illness. She adores Mr. Cohen and when she's no longer able to come to class, it's a surefire time to get out the Kleenex box.
At the heart of this superbly made movie is the performance of James Wolk, a little known actor whose previous work has mainly been in daytime soaps. His ability to win us over while he's barking and snorting and shouting like a nutcase is uncanny. He makes Brad Cohen so likeable that you want to sign up for one of his classes, even if it means hanging out with 10-year-olds for a year.
Cohen's struggle to get into grad school to earn his master's degree is another heartbreaker. The slow, but certain turning of his relationship with his dad is also quite beautifully done and Treat Williams brings special sensitivity to his performance as the tough dad who finally becomes his son's greatest advocate.
Yeah, I know, you're thinking "disease of the week" movie. Sure, they make a lot of those and you'll find them all over the cable networks these days. But this is the true story of a truly determined man who couldn't end his problem, so he found a way to put it to work for him. It's the story of a hero and I believe you'll feel like cheering him by the time you reach the final scenes.
I smell Emmy awards for this one and it would be nice to see good old CBS, a broadcast network, and Hallmark Hall of Fame, one of the all-time high class movie franchises, steal some of the thunder away from HBO at award time next year.
©2008 by Ron Miller. The illustration is courtesy of Hallmark Hall of Fame. This column first posted Dec. 1, 2008.
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