Higher Learning

John Singleton – 1995 – USA

Students at prestigious (and fictional) Columbus University deal with political, racial and sexual crises, treating the school as a microcosm of society where injustices are dealt with via picket protests, committee meetings or calls to campus security.  The ensemble cast includes Omar Epps, Kristy Swanson, Tyra Banks, Michael Rapaport, Regina King, Ice Cube and Laurence Fishburne.  John Singleton, still riding high on the accolades for his debut Boyz ‘n the Hood (1991), and unfazed by the lukewarm reception to Poetic Justice (1993), attempts a lot of admirable things in Higher Learning, but in trying to do so much – to be so epic and expansive and momentous – the film ends up feeling stretched thin.  Despite clocking in at a little over two hours, there isn’t time for any of its many plots to be developed substantially, making it often feel more like a pilot for a TV series.  This is the kind of thing that Robert Altman did intuitively well, but few else.  Singleton clearly wants to be seen as an artist and an activist simultaneously, but by dividing his focus, he stumbles in both departments.  The simplistic, “afterschool special” treatment of hot-button subjects like date rape, sexual orientation and racism doesn’t really delve into these problems or propose solutions as much as it ties things up with Oprah-like platitudes about love conquering all.  Rape and homophobia are symbolically overcome at once, for example, when a bland WASP girl with no personality indulges in a tentative lesbian romance (with no less a beauty than Jennifer Connelly, of course) while also finally meeting a sensitive, long-haired boy who has the decency to insist on using a condom instead of refusing like the jocks do.  But the film is about race most of all, and the notion that racism involves little more than a handful of easily indoctrinated neo-Nazi skinheads is so lazy that it’s pretty irresponsible.  “Just arrest all the skinheads, and there, racism is over,” seems to be the message of the movie.  Altman dealt with multi-tiered storylines and volatile subjects too, but where he was satisfied with observing human behavior, almost more like a documentarian, Singleton can only implement stereotypes and horribly clichéd melodrama because that’s the easiest way to hit the audience over the head with his very important message.  Epps is a fine actor, but the multitude of slow-motion shots of his face and body contorting in anguish are pretty laughable.  They are overdone because Singleton didn’t bother with making sure there was any genuine emotional impact from anything else in the film up until its preposterous climax featuring a Charles Whitman-style shooting spree in the middle of a Generation X campus peace rally; (even minutes after the first shot rings out, extras scurry to and fro in faux panic instead of taking cover or at least lying still as anyone in real life would).  Higher Learning has a lot going for it, but ultimately it collapses under the weight of its own pretensions.