School Ties
Movie Review by: Aviv Bercovicz, American University

I first saw the movie School Ties about ten years ago when the movie first came out. At that time I was about eleven years old. Watching the movie as a twenty-one year old college student makes me realize how many underlying messages and details I did not understand as a child. I was able relate to a lot of the circumstances the David Green went through. The most obvious relationship I was able to make is the fact that we are both observing Jews. When I was growing up and his age in the movie I was a football player for my hometown, and the only Jewish one at that. Now I realize that times and circumstance were much different in 1955 than they were in the 1990's but nevertheless the connections are there.

Hiding the fact that he was Jewish was not an option for David where he was going. St. Matthews was a haven for the children of some of the most powerful, richest, and most influential people in the country. To be a Jew at this time was not as accepted as it is today as was depicted in the film. Many of the characters in the film openly mocked and discriminated against Jews. David of course caught on to this immediately upon coming to the school. One of his first nights there some of the boys were talking and one said to another, "Hey do you know how Rip got his Hi Fi?" "Yeah he Jewed him down!" Once David heard this comment he knew how imperative it would be for him to keep his religion disclosed from the rest of his peers.

Religion was not the only item that had to be hidden from people at this school. Socioeconomic status was another critical topic that some had to keep to themselves here. To be of lower economic class would also certainly lead to discrimination and ridicule.

As seen in the film and something that still occurs today many times people are recruited to schools based on athletic talent as David was in the film. Alumni, administrators, coaches, and parents will find a child with profound athletic ability and lead them to such a place in hopes of using them for their skills. Depending on how one looks at such a case will determine the intentions of the recruiter, but many times the child's personal interests are put at risk by these moves. In David's case such a move entailed keeping his religion a secret. This tactic affected both David and his peers in the film. Once the secret was told this severely damaged the dynamics of all the characters in the film and lead to some life changing events for some.

The purpose of such an institution is to prepare students to go onto college (mainly the Ivy League) and become the leaders of tomorrow. For instance many of our political leaders of today attended such institutions. In discussing the dynamics of these academies if a boy like David were able to express his religion there it would give hope to other minority students of getting in there. Such a thing would also disrupt the homogenous status of the school which is what administration, alumni, and parents would not want to occur. These people want to keep the power within. To give power to others would severely threaten such close minded individuals. This school of thought is what continuously led to generations upon generations of bigotry and discrimination.