The First Year

A deceptively simple documentary, The First Year follows five teachers in California through the first year of their teaching careers. The teachers are a diverse lot, teaching different ages and classes at five different schools, but what remains consistent are the difficulties they face and the determination they bring to it. Though The First Year is partly a recruiting effort that hopes to persuade more people to pursue teaching, the movie doesn't avoid the problems teachers face, from bureaucratic stumbling blocks (one teacher can't get her own classroom; an ESL program faces being defunded) to the kids themselves, who can be as angry and frustrated as the teachers, often for reasons the teachers are helpless to change. At times, the passion and empathy these five teachers demonstrate is profoundly moving--not because they're performing great feats, but because of the simple, small acts of faith that so rarely get made. --Bret Fetzer