Take the Lead (2006)
Directed by Liz Friedlander
Written by Dianne Huston
Starring Antonio Banderas, Rob Brown, Alfre Woodard
Release Date April 7th, 2006
Published April 7th, 2006
The real life of Pierre Dulaine is one that should be honored with some variation of the nobel prize. While on the surface that may seem outrageous, Pierre Dulaine is merely a ballroom dance instructor. However, a closer examination shows that Mr. Dulaine's ballroom dance classes introduced to inner city New York classrooms returned more positively reinforced children and improved classmates than any after school activity in the history of New York schools.
His fight to bring culture to the classroom was ridiculed as frivolous and a waste of what limited resources schools had for their often troubled inner city students. Mr. Dulaine turned that around by demonstrating a unique ability to bring even the worst lost causes back to school on a daily basis. His care and hard work helped many kids discover a love for learning they never knew they had.
There may not be a Nobel prize for Pierre Dulaine but at the very least Hollywood has a loving treatment of his life in the new drama Take The Lead. Yes, this is a creaky little old school overcoming the odds drama but if anyone deserves a sickly sweet love letter its Pierre Dulaine.
In the inner city high schools of New York City teachers fight to save the kids they feel they can save and just hope the rest don't get killed. Years of underfunding, lack of security and just plain hopelessness will lead to the kind of defeatist attitudes that pervade these schools.
Thankfully Pierre Dulaine (Antonio Banderas) was never exposed to this systemic hopelessness. Pierre Dulaine is a ballroom dance instructor with his own high end studio and upper crust clientele. One night, while riding his bike home, Pierre comes in contact with Rock (Rob Brown) , a troubled kid who has just vandalized his Principal's car.
The principal is played by the terrific Alfre Woodard who skeptically receives a visit from Pierre Dulaine the following morning. Pierre is not here to rat out the student who destroyed her car. Rather, he wishes to offer his services as an instructor to any student willing to learn to dance.
The principal is ready to laugh Pierre out of her office before she remembers that she has no instructor for her detention. What harm can it do for her to let Pierre try and teach some of the school's most lost causes how to cha cha cha. Heck he probably won't last the afternoon.
Known as the school's rejects, the detention kids are a mixed group of street thugs, latch key kids and lost souls who have been told all their lives that they have no chance of escaping their surroundings. Ramos (Dante Basco), Lahrette (Yaya DaCosta), Monster (Brandon Andrews), Easy (Lyriq Bent) and Tina (Laura Benanti) are just a few of the kids the rest of the teachers have given up on.
Also in Mr. Dulaine's detention class is Rock who does not believe Pierre's appearance is a coincidence. Convinced Pierre is going to turn him in for his vandalism refuses to participate even as the rest of the class begins to come around to Pierre's passionate demonstrations.
Antonio Banderas is the linchpin of Take The Lead. His performance sells what is essentially a predictable, almost farcical inner city melodrama. With his usual smolder at a mere simmer, Banderas crafts a starring performance that is unlike anything he has delivered before.
Humble yet strong, charismatic without trying Banderas pays near perfect tribute to Pierre Dulaine.
The rest of the cast is good if undistinguished. As tends to happen with such large casts of young actors, names and faces get lost in the crowd. I can tell you that each dances incredibly well but beyond that, only the enigmatic Rob Brown really stands out.
I have been a fan of Rob Brown since his exceptional debut alongside Sean Connery in the underrated drama Finding Forrester. Brown needs to break the mold of the High School roles that have been his forte since Forrester, including another terrific performance in 2005's Coach Carter. One of these days Rob Brown will take a role that is not another High School coming of age story and he will become a major star.
Take The Lead was directed by rookie director Liz Friedlander, a music video veteran. The music video experience likely explains why only the dance scenes really jump off the screen while much of the drama is clumsy. Friedlander and screenwriter Dianne Houston fumble Pierre's introduction which is supposed to deliver his motivation for teaching these kids.
This forces some fancy footwork, pun intended, by Banderas to make the character work. It is a tribute to Banderas that he rescues much of the film from a number of similar mistakes. Mistakes that include a thinly drawn villain character, a fellow teacher, whose reasons for hating Mr. Dulaine and his dance classes are merely the contrivance of the plot.
I'm not saying that Take The Lead is a very good movie, actually it's just barely a good movie. I am saying that because of Antonio Banderas, Rob Brown and the real life Pierre Dulaine, there is a great deal about Take The Lead that works.
As a tribute to a man who deserves a tribute, see Take The Lead and be inspired by the spirit of Pierre Dulaine.
