Detention . Austin Chronicle . 03-30-98

Detention

DIRECTED BY: Andy Anderson

REVIEWED: 03-30-98

If you think the only fate worse than death is to be shut up with an insurance salesman for an extended period of time, you obviously haven't seen Detention, (or been forced to listen to Toni Basil's "Mickey" on a loudly played, continuous loop recording). This is a funny, scary, and seriously provocative movie about behavior modification, learning, and the state of education in our society. Bill Walmsley is a mild-mannered fellow with a circus, a Master of Education degree, and a V.A. hospital all in his background. At first encounter, he is in his apartment, surrounded by circus memorabilia, somewhat disoriented and inordinately disturbed by a pounding on his door. He grasps the first straw that comes by, a telephone offer of a job as a permanently temporary (or temporarily permanent) detention-hall teacher in a senior high school (another clue to the state of Walmsley's mind, as this is not your ideal re-entry situation). Students who openly taunt him, knowing he has no recourse, teachers who have long since given up trying to teach, and a principal concerned only with keeping students alive and lawsuits at bay are all part of Walmsley's initiation at the ominously named Donner High. Still, Mr. Walmsley maintains his quiet, rational behavior until, inevitably, something has to give. Exactly who gives what, however, is open to interpretation. Must the spirit be subdued so that the mind may absorb the theory of Keynesian economics? Can cooperation exist only between conformists? Does the end justify the means? Detention is textured with wacky, funhouse visuals and an offbeat, savage humor that belie the dogma of the dialogue and the tidy nicety of the puff-piece ending. I came out of Detention feeling as though I'd spent two hours standing on tilted floors and looking at wavy mirrors.

--Hollis Chacona

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Detention

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