An American Promise

An American Promise is an award-winning documentary that was released in 2013. It stars three main cast members, Idris Brewster, Joe Brewster (Idris’s father, who is also the co-director of the film), and Miles Brewster. The film is an intimate and unflinching chronicle of race, class, and education in America, leaving audiences with resonating thoughts about these societal pressures.

The story of the documentary involves Joe Brewster (a Harvard and Stanford-educated psychiatrist) and Michèle Stephenson (a Columbia Law School graduate and filmmaker) both turning their lenses onto their own family and capturing the education of their young son, Idris, and his best friend Seun, from kindergarten through high school graduation. They meticulously document their sons' academic and emotional progress, navigating along the pathways of one of the most prestigious private schools in the country.

An American Promise unrolls as an epic narrative about African American boys and their journey of education, following Idris Brewster and Seun Summers over 13 years as they begin their academic careers at The Dalton School, one of the country's most prestigious private educational institutions. The documentary starts when these two bright-eyed kindergarten students are admitted into Dalton, a school whose student population is dominantly white, and charts their experiences over more than a decade.

This documentary has a powerful message: showing what happens when a school with the best of intentions to diversify its student body meets the harsh realities of societal discrimination and personal struggle. The film serves as an educational highlight on the disparities in education between students of different ethnicities and social classes in America. It presents the innate expectations, biases, and what it means to pursue the educational equality for all, stirring the audience's minds to reconsider the idea of American Dream.

While the film focuses heavily on the educational journey of these two boys, it also gives an intimate portrayal of their families. The sensitive parent-child interactions bear witness to their emotional growth. The mothers and the fathers, despite experiencing their separate trials, share the ultimate truth about parenthood in their common want for their sons to succeed. As their parents grapple with doubts and fears about the decision to send their children to such a high-pressure environment, the boys find ways to create their own identities amid the expectations placed upon them.

Dealing with challenges such as learning disorders, racial bias, and the overwhelming pressure to meet high academic standards, this striking documentary tells a story of resilience and ambition. It is a revealing exploration into the complexities of race, parenting, and education in American society, leading us to question the American education system and its promise of opportunity and progress.

An American Promise isn't just a movie about education. It's a movie about humanity, about the struggle to fit in, about the effects of society on individual development, about the hopes and fears of parenting, and about the way these things affect young black men and their families in a multilayered society.

Through the eyes of these boys and their families, the audience explore the core issue of race from deeply personal perspectives. Reality becomes draining and frustrating at times as the boys confront the hard challenges of transfers, academic pressures, nurturing their own identities, and being black in predominantly white high academic circles. The film courageously embraces these moments of hardship, making them shine as pivotal points of reflection, commentary, and catalysts for change.

An American Promise is a poignant, captivating, and thought-provoking film that probes the critical issue of racial and class disparity in American education. The film valiantly questions the status quo and dares to dream about a future in which every child, regardless of race or class, can have an equal opportunity to flourish.

In addition, the film stands out for its cinematic quality, and its intimate, unfettered access to the lives of its subjects. Over 13 years, the filmmakers skillfully tracked the boys' academic and emotional growth, crafting a compelling narrative and providing the audience with a unique, seasoned perspective on this prevalent issue.

An American Promise is an extraordinary piece of work that has received rave reviews for its courage, its incredible insight, and its ability to stimulate conversations on an issue that is often overlooked in the United States. It is an educational highlight on the disparities in education between students of different ethnicities and social classes in America.