Critical Thinking (2020)

Critical Thinking: Directed by John Leguizamo. With John Leguizamo, Rachel Bay Jones, Michael Kenneth Williams, Corwin C. Tuggles. The true story of the Miami Jackson High School chess team which was the first inner city team to win the U.S. National Chess Championship.

“Chess. As a fan of the game I have watched many a movie that featured it, and have been disappointed several times when it became apparent that the movie makers had no intention of actually portraying the game as it is played. Instead, they usually content themselves with utilizing the gameu0026#39;s mythos. We are given the impression that players of the game are very smart, they understand the u0026quot;deep thinkingu0026quot; part of the game and live in a world far removed from the rest of us heathens, who donu0026#39;t know what the word u0026quot;checkmateu0026quot; means.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Searching for Bobby Fisheru0026quot; (1993) comes to mind as an example of one of those great movies that somehow disregarded the game entirely. I was horrified that they could make a movie about the game and purposely choose to remain ignorant of it, as if no one watching would notice. Yeah, guess whou0026#39;s gonna watch a movie about a famous chess player? Could it be.. other chess players?? Iu0026#39;m sure no one will notice that the games in the movie arenu0026#39;t real.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie is the first movie Iu0026#39;ve ever seen that uses actual historical games, play by play. It accurately uses the names of the openings, and has the actors playing the game for real as the viewer watches. The teacher talks about real historical chess players that shaped playing styles. That alone warrants 7 stars in my book.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe other two stars come from the quality of the film itself. This is not a movie about the game, itu0026#39;s about the people who played it. A group of u0026quot;disadvantagedu0026quot; kids who became winners. Itu0026#39;s a great story. The actors did a great job. Character development was somewhat slim, but the viewer is carried along and learns to care about each of them. Their interplay is real, you really see that they are in touch with each other. John Leguizamo played a great part, I enjoyed it greatly.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe only reason I didnu0026#39;t give this a 10 was because I was put off just slightly by the u0026quot;social justiceu0026quot; revising of history. José Raúl Capablanca didnu0026#39;t get marginalized and erased from history, thatu0026#39;s a fabrication. He was world champion for 6 years and had a huge lasting influence on the game. Maybe the reason people donu0026#39;t know about him is because he was champion nearly 100 years ago. And Gabriel Maura from Puerto Rico? He did not u0026quot;modernizeu0026quot; the game. He literally created a new version of it (called Modern Chess) which is popular in South America. Thatu0026#39;s why no one knows his name, it has nothing to do with his race. It has to do with the fact that these kids are living in the U.S. and donu0026#39;t play chess in South America. Shame shame people. -1 star.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGreat movie, I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it.”