Film “Radical” by Eugenio Derbez: a Mexican professor discovers genius

Paloma’s school was next to a landfill, and people reportedly called it a “place of punishment,” Wired reported, with little electricity, internet and computers. Sometimes the children didn’t have enough to eat.

“Radical” is based on how Juárez Correa applied an experimental teaching method he saw online from Sugata Mitra, an Indian professor who won a $1 million TED Prize in 2013. Mitra developed a teaching method that used computers to inspire children to learn. their own lessons and with groups of students, instead of conventional teacher-led lessons.

In the film, Derbez explains to his students on the first day of school that their own potential will make them the best students in the world, as Juárez Correa told his students, according to the Wired article.

Derbez said that unlike idealistic teachers who impose themselves with authority in front of the class, his character marks students as a peer or friend.

“He doesn’t want to show off. He wants to be hidden in the back. He doesn’t want to lead,” Derbez said. “There’s a scene in the movie where he takes the desk out of class because he doesn’t want to be the authority figure in the class.”

American fans will remember Derbez in another teaching role, in the 2022 Academy Award-winning film “CODA”. His teacher character in “Radical” can create an emotional connection with viewers, like Robin Williams did it in “Dead Poets Society,” Edward James Olmos in “Stand and Deliver” or Sidney Poitier in “To Sir, with Love.”

Access to economic and educational resources is correlated with success on standardized tests, with recent data in the United States showing a wide gap between the haves and have-nots: The New York Times reported that students from families belonging to the 20 % of the best paid were seven times more numerous. more likely than those in the bottom 20 percent to score at least 1,300 on the SAT, which could open the door to the nation’s top colleges.

The fact that Matamoros students defied the lack of benefits is what makes the real story so compelling – and inspiring.

Derbez said the film features characters like Lupita (Mia Fernanda Solis) and Nico (Danilo Guardiola) who are based on composites of real-life experiences of students in Juárez Correa’s class.