Watching Christoper Wong’s “Whatever It Takes” documentary made me feel both happy and ashamed to be American. Happy that filmmakers have the freedom to express themselves about issues calling for attention and ashamed that this issue is education. Clearly as shown in the documentary, it’s something that America greatly needs help with. For the slums of South Bronx where the documentary is set, completing high school is a rare event for most students.

Having lived my entire life in the comfort of the middle-class, Whatever It Takes was very much an alarming eye-opener. While it is common to hear voices calling out for educational reform on the news, actually seeing the areas calling for education reform in this documentary is heartbreaking. Sharifea, one of the documentary’s main characters, was first introduced as a 9th grader with the math skills of a 4th grader. In the documentary she is accepted into a Dartmouth College program, but is met with the hardships and complications arising from having a drug abusing mother. As depressing as her story sounds, her story is one of a handful in the documentary that lend to the feeling of hope any viewer would feel after watching it.

I highly recommend it for anyone who’s concerned with the future of our country.

Whatever It Takes will be screened at the San Diego Asian Film Festival on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 2:45 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. For more information and for tickets, please click here.