Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: ACCEPTED [New Orleans Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]
The aspect of college admissions has always been tricky but now with the high standards and the ensuing admissions scandals, how does one keep competitive, especially when aiming for Ivy League schools. "Accepted" [Louisiana Feaures] takes an interesting approach in that it shows a prep school called TM Landry outside LaFayette Louisiana and how it transformed some of their students' lives. The issue is that line between motivating and scaring in terms of rhetoric and push for excellence. The lead administrator of the story seems to have some of the right ideas but in today's sensitive culture with everything on social media and people being cancelled, the tricky element is how does one have to approach the system versus the actual achievements of the students. The film starts off showing th sensation of viral videos showing some of the more low income kids getting into Ivy League schools. The presentation seems fine but what is interesting as the film unfolds is the cracks that evolve but the results in certain ways that remain. The facts are not unequivocal in that mistakes are made on both sides but the ones that seem to suffer are the students but also how they interpret their own moral compass and sense of achievement to get ahead.
Some of the student stories are very hard working. Some are resilient. Some are simply realistic. Some are saddening. But it does show a continuing crack that is in the school system and how strata is achieved. And it can simply come from what school you get in to and the work ethic that is instilled if the drive isn't completely inside you. This prep school, before it came under fire, lit a fervor amongst the students even if it was done with a stern hand. When the media blitz came down on the school after a New York Times article, the raw vision the school was was compromised and delineated for good reason but to the visceral demotion and sacrifice of the students in certain ways. Some had found a community. It was hard work but, as the first half of the film shows, made many of them extremely focused. The college admissions scandal that showed Hollywood moms trying to stack the deck for their children who were already privileged shows the sad irony where these underprivileged kids worked from dawn until dusk and still got the shaft in many instances. "Accepted" is an interesting parable that neither condemns nor endorses the processes that try to work the education system. Yet the irony of its subject is of course disheartening while showing the stamina and resilience some students have. B+
By Tim Wassberg
