Isaac in Accepted (Dan Chen)

This compelling and illuminating documentary centers on T.M. Landry College Preparatory, a K–12 private school in Louisiana that specializes in sending working-class Black youths to university. Boasting a 100-percent acceptance rate for graduates, it garnered mainstream attention in 2016 after one of its students made it to the Ivy League (many others would follow), and thanks to viral videos featuring kids and teachers huddled around a computer as a senior received the official word from a university.

Director Dan Chen follows a cross section of T.M. Landry students during their junior and senior years as they attempt to achieve their college dreams, including the book-smart Alicia, moody Adia, soft-spoken Isaac, and highly motivated Cathy, each of whom brings a unique backstory. Adia, for example, transferred to the school after self-destructing academically following the death of a sibling, while Cathy lives at home with a widowed mother and two sisters who are disabled.

Despite a highly unconventional approach that eschews textbooks and homework, the school initially appears a good fit for all parties. Early on, the main source of tension for the students is simply figuring out how to balance the intense preparation for college entrance exams with occasionally having fun. They put in 12-hour days, while instructor and school cofounder Michael Landry, aka Mr. Mike, constantly pushes them to push themselves harder. He administers tough love, but he will bend over backwards for his students—he answers his phone late at night when Adia has a question about a math problem.

Accepted has all of the makings of an inspiring real-life story, but about halfway through, there is a twist that turns everything on its head involving an investigation by The New York Times, which uncover incidents of unethical behavior as well as an alarming incident of physical violence by an instructor toward a student. Amid the fallout, all four main protagonists drop out, while the school finds itself in the midst of a public relations nightmare. From here on out, the film becomes considerably more suspenseful as the students don’t have much time before college applications are due.

Chen’s subjects don’t hesitate to explain why they left T.M. Landry—it wasn’t the same reason for everyone—and how much more challenging college prep is without someone constantly urging them on. We definitely get a sense of how tenuous college dreams are for teens whose parents never went through the process themselves. Cathy openly questions whether higher education is worth it. Chen, behind the camera, doesn’t respond, and neither does anyone else in Cathy’s household.

At the same time, we never question whether the decision to leave T.M. Landry was the right call, mostly due to the school’s increasing shady behavior, which includes hiring an outside firm to review the accusations raised by The New York Times. (The supposedly independent investigator doesn’t even bother checking out a key police report.) In addition, the filmmakers start being frozen out by an increasingly paranoid Mr. Mike, leading to some intrigue as Chen and company start surreptitiously recording T.M. Landry–related events.

Yet the most riveting moments concern how Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, the lower-income, majority Black small town where the school is located, reacts to the controversy. (The monthly tuition was $675 or less.) It may not be what we expect, but Chen frames the response against larger issues of race and economic status to point out how access to higher education—especially to elite institutions—is viewed through a more complex lens by those who have traditionally been excluded.

The end result may be the removal of some luster from what had previously been touted as a “miracle” school, but in doing so, Accepted argues that the need for such institutions to exist at all points to larger failings in our nation’s educational system.