Young girl Nicole, dropout in Eden Parks, Brooklyn, becomes victim of a lethal robbery in her poverty-stricken neighborhood. She loses her dead-end job and feels she has no future anymore and chooses to do something about it. She gets private lessons from her old school teacher Will Cleamons (played by her actual father Sidney Poitier), becomes educated and in the end will leave her poor backgrounds for a bright future...
Although the story is powerful in its message I thought the movie itself was rather mediocre in its workmanship. The story felt contrived at some points and I didn't feel I was watching a 'real' story but rather a moral fable. The directing could have been a lot better. The acting also isn't that great although Sydney Tamiia Poitier does a decent job in her first big role as an actress.
But this doesn't mean I didn't enjoy watching it. The uplifting message of this girl trying to escape her disconsolate fate certainly touched me and seeing her succeed even inspired me.
Although the story is powerful in its message I thought the movie itself was rather mediocre in its workmanship. The story felt contrived at some points and I didn't feel I was watching a 'real' story but rather a moral fable. The directing could have been a lot better. The acting also isn't that great although Sydney Tamiia Poitier does a decent job in her first big role as an actress.
But this doesn't mean I didn't enjoy watching it. The uplifting message of this girl trying to escape her disconsolate fate certainly touched me and seeing her succeed even inspired me.