Pressure Cooker

Gr 9 Up—In the opening of this powerful Emmy-nominated film, culinary arts teacher Wilma Stephenson arrives at Frankford High School before dawn. Her first task is to unlock a glass display case and fill it with her students' cooking trophies. She removes them again in the evening—it is her daily routine. This sequence perfectly encapsulates a film about a crime-ridden Philadelphia school and the teacher who protects and champions her students. The film follows one of Stephenson's cooking classes throughout her year of scolding and haranguing the teens ("my babies") as they build vertical towers out of salad and chop onions "perfect as jewels." The year culminates in a cook-off college scholarship contest judged by famous chefs. Some students hope to become chefs themselves, while others want to pursue business degrees to start their own restaurants or work in hospitality. The main focus is on two girls and a boy who are very likable and deserving of a scholarship. The film concentrates more on the pressures of competition and the students' family lives than on daily classroom activities. This is good from a narrative standpoint; the countdown to the contest gives the film a sinewy narrative arc. But despite many interviews with the main participants, viewers are still left wondering why they love to cook. How did teens who grew up on McDonalds ever fall under the spell of foie gras in the first place? No one has the recipe for great teaching or quite understands how it happens, but we know it when we taste it. In any given year, Mrs. Stephenson's students win up to $750,000 combined in scholarships, catapulting themselves from despair to achievement. Luckily for us, this motivational story is not saccharine, but as tart and tangy as Stephenson herself.—Jess deCourcy Hinds, Bard High School Early College Queens, Long Island City, NY