Trevor Garfield (Samuel L Jackson) is an idealistic, dedicated high school science teacher in Brooklyn.
After refusing to give a passing grade to a violent student, Garfield finds “187” scrawled all over his textbook and is subsequently ambushed and brutally stabbed nine times in the hallway.
Fifteen months later, physically and emotionally scarred, he moves to Los Angeles to work as a substitute teacher at John Quincy Adams High School.
He is assigned to an unruly, predominantly Latin-American high school, overwhelmed by violent gang culture and severe apathy.
To his horror, he discovers the administration is entirely spineless and terrified of lawsuits, leaving teachers completely unprotected.
His new school is full of dangerously undisciplined students who are a part of a ruthless street gang called K.O.S. (“Kappin’ Off Suckers”), who begin systematically terrorising him.
Garfield eventually reaches breaking point and resorts to a shocking, morally complex vigilante mode of survival.
After months of torment, the gang leader, Cesar (Clifton Collins Jr.), and his crew break into Garfield’s house to kill him. Instead of fighting back, a completely disillusioned Garfield challenges Cesar to a high-stakes game of Russian roulette.
He forces Cesar to play by weaponising the teenager’s rigid adherence to “street honour” and pride, telling him that if he refuses to pull the trigger, he loses all respect.
The outcome – and the film’s pitch-black ending – proved highly controversial and sparked intense debate.
Scott Yagemann, who wrote the story and screenplay for this film, worked as a real-life high school substitute teacher in the Los Angeles area for seven years. He claimed that 90% of the events depicted in the movie were based on real incidents that happened to himself or his fellow educators.
Trevor Garfield
Samuel L. Jackson Dave Childress
John Heard Ellen Henry
Kelly Rowan Cesar Sanchez Clifton Collins Jr. Dennis Broadway
Method Man
Director
Kevin Reynolds
Video
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He forces Cesar to play by weaponising the teenager’s rigid adherence to “street honour” and pride, telling him that if he refuses to pull the trigger, he loses all respect.
