Despite the massive hurdles on his way to lead the pathetic students into the right track, the teacher, Mr. Escalante manages to reinvigorate the sense of esteem in them by teaching the hard subject of AP calculus, working day-in, day-out.
The setting on which the plot is mainly based is Eastern Los Angeles Garfield High School, a place packed with students from the poor, deprived Hispanic minority led by a tough teacher who has no intention of backing down.
Even at the opening, the audience begins to be fed with semiotic elements which signify the issue of stratification and deprivation in Los Angeles. "We're not a minority", that's one piece of large graffiti on a wall in a neighborhood filled with other elements of poverty, giving the initial hint to the viewer about the depiction of the plight and misery of a minority in the movie.
The teacher is shown behind the roll as he cruises across the neighborhood, setting his eyes on elements of the lower-class life: a group of Latino construction workers on the back of a van, a couple of street vendors and a band of street performers crossing the road as they carry their instruments.
Escalante is thrust into a class of extremely unruly children, who don't even bother stand up when he steps in the classroom. Interestingly, however, that is no shock to the teacher, as he seems to know very well how to handle them without resorting to violence while remaining completely coolheaded.
Upon the first encounter, one students asks him if they can discuss "sex" in the class. "We could set sex for homework," Escalante quickly replies in a sarcastic manner, giving the students an impression of sharpness and biting humor.
To highlight one major component of the Latinos' plight, the director chooses to focus upon the educational system and seeks to convey facts to the audience about how deep the social stratification and wide the gaps are in the American society when it comes to the right to equal education and opportunities.
Garfield High School, indeed, the director implies, is an embodiment of decades-long discrimination against the Latino community, whose children are the primary target of injustice. But Escalante is there just to fight that up to the end. Of Hispanic origin himself, he seems to have deeply realized the graveness of the matter, which is why he puts the bar higher, much beyond the apparent capabilities of his students.
The climax of the discrimination comes after the educational inspectors rule that the calculus test be rejected on the assumption that the participants had actually cheated in the exam, showing just how profound is the distrust in minorities even among the academics and the educated, who are supposed to put aside those biased notions and offer everyone the chance to move up the social ladder.
Ironically enough, the director chooses the two inspectors from minorities, one African American, the other a Latino himself, to suggest that even the educated members of the minority groups are so strongly affected by the white supremacy, never realizing that what they do is indeed representing the predominant view that Hispanic children are inherently incapable.
"If it was Beverly Hills High School, they wouldn't have sent you to investigate," Escalante tells the inspectors, objecting to the mainstream attitude in the educational system. Escalante believes that if the same scores had been achieved by children from Beverley Hills, the system would have never questioned the results, because they are basically considered supreme and talented.
The calculus test, from Escalante's viewpoint is a chance for the system to regain the trust of the Hispanic students, but the disapproval from the authorities makes that just a failure, disappointing the students and leaving them in a state of frustration after a months-long hard battle they fought to prove their aptitude.
Still, the unyielding teacher rises again, taking the hands of the worn-out students and helping them to stand up for the cause once more. He calls them true dreamers. "Tomorrow you'll prove you're the champs," he tells them with vigor, valor and enthusiasm ahead of the second test.
As the title suggests, the movie is the struggle of a man who never backs down in the face of hardships and obstacles, and sticks to his true mission of delivering the subject he's expected to convey to his students. But that's not the only thing he teaches them. The students learn calculus plus perseverance, something which has been missing in their lives by that time, due to the injustice imposed upon them.
The dialog and characterization in the movie are both simple. There are no complicated characters and the language is that of the everyday life of a group of Latino students. To an extent, however, the plot is unpredictable, as one keeps wondering what will happen next, especially after the results of the first AP calculus tests are rejected by the Educational Testing Service.
The music and the editing are smooth, with the costume and makeup design completely fitting the style of the era: loose shirts, young adults with newly grown mustache, and girls with hair-style representing the late 1970s. Together, those elements help with the viewer's full understanding of the theme and the context in which the story has developed.
The closing scene of the movie comes as Escalante learns about the approval of the second test from the authorities. As he tries to overcome his over-excitement about the news, with a smile on his face, he leaves the principal's office. The camera shows him from behind as he walks away in the corridor, as if he's done with a tremendous mission and is determined to just embark on another journey to continue carrying the huge task on his shoulders somewhere else.
