Wordiezett So much average

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

jwilloughby14 This documentary clearly showed how racism is still prevalent in today's society. In a small Mississippi town, proms are still segregated despite the integrated class room. Morgan Freeman offers to pay for the prom if students choose to integrate it. When they do, all sorts of issues arise but they end up having fun at their senior prom. What parents say and do about it is astonishing and it shows that some places in America are still living in the past. Most kids were all for the integrated proms, however, some parents had strong opinions otherwise. The documentary opened my eyes about how racism and discrimination is still a prominent sociological issue we face in everyday life. It followed the lives of these average Mississippi teenagers through the course of their senior integrated prom and shed light on how these slower pace communities and certain socioeconomic factors contribute to how people think about race. I feel like the director could have included more kids' opinions as well as additional parents' to really show the vast amount of different views and beliefs on blacks. I did like how they showed where the kids lived and showed the different sides of a white vs black. However, I enjoyed the documentary and learned a lot about discrimination.

Sun Alex This documentary about this small town with just 415 students in high school that is 60% black and 40% white and has segregated proms every single year till 2008- one for black and one for white- hard to believe but it's true. Then, one day in 1997 an actor Morgan Freeman (a resident of Charleston since 1991) approached the school and offered to pay for the prom, provided it to be racially integrated. The school declined Freeman's offer. Then, 11 years later he goes back and offered again, and the school agreed to move forward with an integrated prom. So, the prom preparation starts. Over next four months as the seniors of Charleston High School prepare for their senior prom; the director/producer/writer of the documentary follows the group of senior students, both black and white. The students discuss segregation in Charleston and how they feel about it. The documentary also explores issues such as interracial relationships, and what the parents think about an integrated prom. The integrated prom is successful despite some parents' forbidding their children to attend it, and that a white only prom was held by some of the parents. Some of the students also said that some of their parents would threaten the black kids because they were friends with a white kid. In the end the white parents still had their lame white people only prom and the integrated prom went smoothly lots of people showed up. It seemed like more people were having fun at the integrated prom then the white prom. Some of the white students even had black students as their date like Jeremy and Brittany, happily together to this day. When someone asked Paul what happened after graduation, he said that Brittany and Jeremy still love each other and that no one is married yet. Not all of the students went to college, because most of the black were poor so they worked to get money for college. The white parents still have the white people only prom and the integrated prom is still happening. In 2010, the graduation rate was 68.8%. So it was fascinating and interesting and I would love to watch it again.

lisemaerodgers Just saw the documentary last night. Am still slack-jawed at the fact that just LAST YEAR was a first integrated prom in any high school in this country. HOWEVER . . . I only just NOW figured it out -- it's actually pretty simple. Mr Freeman's initial thought that the kids would be happy about integrating the prom was depressingly undercut by the fact that many weren't -- and that even some of the most enlightened kids STILL WENT TO THE WHITES ONLY PROM!!! But, clearly, the fact that blacks so greatly outnumber the whites in the school means that NO WHITE KID STOOD THE CHANCE OF BEING PROM KING OR QUEEN. I'm sure that several had their hearts set on the crown their entire high school career. Pardon my cynicism, but I wouldn't be surprised if the anger at this little fact alone accounts for the mysterious naming of a white kid as valedictorian. I no longer consider this film to be depressing or complicated. It's just HIGH SCHOOL AS USUAL.

preppy-3 This documentary is about a small town in Mississippi that (to this day) has integrated proms--one for blacks, the other whites! Hard to believe but it's true. Actor Morgan Freeman was born and raised in that town up to the age of 6. He says he'll pay for the school prom--IF it's integrated! Naturally this drays a firestorm of controversy but mostly from the parents who don't want it. The kids do--but they're caught in the middle.Absolutely fascinating documentary. It's inconceivable to think that ANY town in this day and age would have separate proms. The documentary talks to the parents and kids. It's made pretty clear that most of the parents are against it--only a few support it. Also a group of white parents pressed charges against the town to NOT have an integrated prom. They also refused to appear on camera and talk about it. This isn't all about racism--it has some very fun moments. The kids themselves are funny, adult and articulate. The best bit is one boy who ends up with TWO dates to the prom! Also the tone of the film is not hysterical or condemning anyone. They just show you what's happening and has the citizens talk about it. Absolutely fascinating. A 10 all the way.