Radical

Radical is a 2023 Mexican comedy-drama film written and directed by Christopher Zalla. The film is based on the 2013 Wired article, "A Radical Way of Unleashing a Generation of Geniuses" by Joshua Davis. The film stars Eugenio Derbez as the teacher Sergio Juarez. The movie, which is Zalla's second directorial feature film for theatrical release, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it was the recipient of the Festival Favorite Award. Plot Students at the harshly-run Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary in Matamoros come from an oppressive environment rife with violence, and suffer some of the worst academic scores in all of Mexico. Teacher Sergio Juarez finds an open window opportunity to attempt a different approach with his sixth-grade class, despite having little idea what he's doing. Critical reception The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney wrote that "director Christopher Zalla adheres to the subgenre's conventions and doesn't stint on sentimentality, but Radical more than earns its surging emotional payoff". Johnny Oleksinski, reviewing the work in the New York Post calls Radical "a Spanish-language gem about a real teacher's impact on a poor Mexican border town".