Steve Parent Guide

Steve (Cillian Murphy) is drowning. He’s the head of Stanton Wood, a reform school that opened with lofty ambitions, long since undermined by repeated budget cuts that have pared it back to the bone. Now a skeleton staff are desperately trying to manage their high risk, dangerous juvenile offenders. As Amanda (Tracey Ullman), the assistant head says, “It’s exhausting, complicated, demanding work and it’s destroying us.”

On this day in 1996, a TV documentary crew are on hand, winding up the boys whose behavior becomes even more difficult to control. Steve receives bad news about the future of the school, and finds himself putting out fires with an upset staff member, belligerent students, and a withdrawn, angry teen. On top of it all, he’s struggling with physical pain and guilt from a car accident.

It’s a good thing that Steve is only 93 minutes long because I don’t think I could take more of the emotional anguish that bleeds through the screen. I come from a family of teachers and I know that teachers give their hearts to the kids they teach and routinely go above and beyond to help their students develop skills or find the social supports their families need. But none of my family members taught in a school like Stanton Wood. It’s both inspiring and depressing to watch as Steve, Amanda, and their colleagues manifest profound empathy for and patience with their volatile, combustible students, while receiving so little support as they burn out under the strain.

Steve is many things: a look at the complex personalities of violent young criminals, an honest examination of the cost of working with them in an underfunded system, and a critique of a society that leaves its social first responders to flounder without adequate supports. As the film shows the attempted suicide by drowning of a student, it also shows how the stresses of Steve’s job are a form of slow-motion suicide for him as he drowns in the agony that surrounds him and numbs his pain in drugs and alcohol. It’s excruciating to watch.

Given the story, negative content is not surprising, and there is plenty of it. Violence on screen consists mainly of physical fights, although there is the aforementioned attempted suicide, and frequent discussion of past criminal assaults. There are also several depictions of drug use by students, and most alarmingly, by a teacher on duty who is drinking alcohol, popping unidentified pain pills, and drinking concentrated oxycodone. Profanity is definitely an issue, with over 117 sexual expletives alone. The Restricted rating is fully merited.

The negative content is high and the film’s themes are very dark, but the story is humanized by its astounding cast. Cillian Murphy once again confirms his place in the acting world’s top tier, giving us a Steve whose sincere love for his students makes him profoundly sympathetic despite his addictions, which have near-catastrophic results. The movie doesn’t gloss over his failures in providing duty of care, but we understand that this is a man who has given his all and has nothing left. The other teachers are well portrayed as are the boys whose gifts and devastating weaknesses are brought to fully-dimensional life. This is a painful film, but it’s also a real one. Watch it at your own risk.

About author

Kirsten Hawkes

Kirsten Hawkes has a BA in Political Science and English and has worked in international development and medical education and marketing. Kirsten enjoys reading, watching movies, and debating politics with her husband and sometimes unwilling children.