Cast: Usher Raymond, Rosario Dawson, Marcello Robinson, Vanessa L. Williams, Forest Whitaker, Sara Gilbert , Clifton Collins, Jr., Fredro Starr, Judd Nelson
Director: Craig Bolotin
Producer: Tracey E. Edmonds
Screenplay: Craig Bolotin
Cinematography: Elliot Davis
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
U.S. Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Light It Up has all the trappings of an exploitation thriller about a group of high school students who hole up in a library with a hostage. There's a police negotiator, an overanxious SWAT team, and a media circus. Despite all of that, however, Light It Up is less like The Negotiator and more like The Breakfast Club. It's a relatively actionless thriller that's more concerned with developing characters and conveying a message than with carnage and pyrotechnics. As the story unfolds, Light It Up surprises by veering off into unexpected territory and defying the bloodthirstiness of some audience members in favor of attacking issues.
The film takes place in Queens' Lincoln High School on a seemingly normal day. When popular teacher Mr. Knowles (Judd Nelson) is suspended, a group of students organizes a sit-in. The arrival of police officer Dante Jackson (Forest Whitaker), in his first day on the job at the school, escalates an already tense situation. He becomes involved in a scuffle with two kids, Ziggy (Robert Ri'chard) and Lester (Usher Raymond), and soon his gun is in Ziggy's hands, he has been shot in the leg, and the school is being evacuated. Six students remain behind to hold Jackson hostage. In addition to Ziggy, the artist, and Lester, the basketball player, the group is comprised of a straight-A student (Rosario Dawson), a laid-back pot enthusiast (Clifton Collins, Jr.), a gang-banger (Fredro Starr), and a pregnant girl with a bad reputation (Sara Gilbert). As a hoard of cops gathers outside the building, the kids begin to realize the enormity of their situation, and the list of demands they present to the negotiator (Vanessa L. Williams) surprises nearly everyone.
Undoubtedly, some viewers will attempt to draw parallels between what transpires in Light It Up and the tragic events of Columbine High School, but there's really little synergy. This movie is not so much about violence in the classroom as it is about the sorry state of the United States' urban public education system. How can students be expected to learn when good teachers are being fired for arriving at creative solutions, heating systems don't work, and there aren't enough text books to go around? Those are the questions the film asks. And, like Wes Craven's inferior Music of the Heart, Light It Up challenges the bureaucratic structure that condemns many children to an educational purgatory. Those who want to learn why two young men strode into a high school and opened fire won't find any answers here.
Writer/director Craig Bolotin manages the difficult task of telling his story without exploiting current events - not an easy task considering how volatile the post-Columbine atmosphere is regarding kids and guns. Bolotin shines the spotlight on important social issues by developing a group of interesting characters and placing them in an untenable situation. He occasionally resorts to clichés (friction among the students, a cop who is anxious to drop the negotiations and storm the Bastille), but, for the most part, he keeps things fresh. The actors are all credible, especially Forest Whitaker, who is doing a variation of the role he played in The Crying Game. The only one who doesn't develop a personality is Vanessa L. Williams, who isn't accorded much screen time.
There are those who will see Light It Up as a left-wing sermon, but Bolotin de-politicizes the movie by highlighting the problem without offering specific solutions. In addition to being a cautionary tale, the movie also functions as a well-constructed, taut thriller. There's a great deal of tension in the situation, and Bolotin doesn't allow it to go to waste. It's possible, albeit unlikely, that an obtuse viewer could enjoy this film without realizing that there's a deeper meaning to everything that transpires. Undoubtedly, based on the trailers and TV ads, the temptation will be to pigeonhole Light It Up with all the other urban high school movies, but it deserves better than that. Bolotin, his cast, and his crew have invested this motion picture with more than a flash of purpose and promise.
© 1999 James Berardinelli