ROCK SCHOOL
Directed by & Director of Photography: Don Argott.
Produced by: Sheena M. Joyce & Don Argott.
Edited by: Demian Fenton.
Released by: Newmarket.
Country of Origin: USA. 93 min. Rated: R.

Kids, are you ready to rock? Welcome to the Paul Green School of Rock Music, the subject of director Don Argott’s documentary Rock School. A couple of warnings: there are no cute and cuddly movements of teacher/student bonding, and Jack Black is nowhere to be found. This is the real school of rock, and the sensitive need not apply.

Argott follows a group of kids aged 9-17, who attend the school in Philadelphia. As the film opens, we see and hear a boy on stage, shrouded in smoke, playing Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” on his guitar, and the kid is brilliant. His name is C.J., he’s only 12, and he has the potential to be a rock star someday. We also meet Will, who was misdiagnosed as being mentally disabled up until the age of five. Will is more artist than wanna-be rock star. He says if it weren’t for Rock School, he’d be dead. Will has tried to kill himself more times than anyone can bear to count. There’s also Madi, a Quaker who joins the school singing Sheryl Crow songs until Green berates her into discovering her true potential, and the Walker twins, nine-year-old boys with a strong, yet disturbing love of Black Sabbath. Parents, you may want to think twice before you let your kids sing about allegiances to the devil.

The biggest kid of all, though, has to Paul Green himself. The man throws tantrums and objects at his students and seems to have the f-word permanently programmed to roll off his tongue. He’s obnoxious, condescending and an egomaniac, but the kids keep coming back, even after he makes them cry. An accomplished guitarist, Green chose to teach, but confesses he’s not so sure he ever wants his students to be better than he is. His goal is to get them to the point where they can play Frank Zappa. And not just any Zappa song, he wants them to learn “Inca Roads,” one of Zappa’s most difficult and musically challenging arrangements. The kids pull it off and the final “jam” is an amazing delight. Green gets his moment in the spotlight, but Argott shows us that it’s the kids who really shine. Tanya Chesterfield
May 26, 2005