That's What I Am

Andrew Nichol narrates this story about his younger self (Chase Ellison) being a 12 year old student who was is pared with Stanley a.k.a. "Big G" (Alexander Walters) for a school project by his teacher Mr. Simon (Ed Harris) to do a short story on tolerance. Stanley is the school's biggest outcast due to his size including one incident where he was sprayed with a water gun to make it look like he wet his pants & always hung out at a section of the school called "Geek Corner" with the other outcast of the school. Despite Stanley always keep his self-respect, Andrew didn't understand why he let people pick on him while Stanley's best friend Norman (Daniel Yelsky) would always get mad at him for doing things he felt that would just get them picked on more. Along with having to do the assignment with Stanley, Andrew is also dealing with his father who is constantly on his case for not being able to do anything correct by his standards while develops a crush on Mary Clear (Mia Rose Frampton) who had her best friend tell him that she likes him as well. That didn't set well with Mary's last boyfriend in Ricky Brown (Jordan Reynolds) who's the school bully & keeps threatening Andrew to stay away from Mary. While all of this is going on, Mr. Simon is the most popular teacher in the school & even won the California Teacher Of The Year as he's very loved by his students but after an incident involving a student named Jason (Camille Bourgeois) that caused him to get suspended, he started spreading a rumor about Mr. Simon being a homosexual causing Jason's father (played by WWE superstar Randy Orton) to bring allegations against him with Mr. Simon refusing to comment stating that his teaching should stand on it's own.

This was definitely a different type of film that we've gotten from WWE in the past as they put their own superstars in the background (Randy Orton only appeared in for maybe 10 mins. total) & did a family drama that focused on real issues as bullying, tolerance, and acceptance. Ed Harris was top notch like always while all the children performed really well so this is a movie that I would go out of your way to see.

This was just one of those wonderful stories and certainly a "should see" if you have teenagers in school. No big budget or special effects just a great story with great acting!

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It's a feel good movie. A touch of reality. I agree with the other reviewer, the acting was just that, kids acting most of the parts. All in all, it was a wonderful family movie. Taking a stand for others isn't very popular these days. I hope that this movie will entice children and adults to stick up for each other and not allow bullies to do their thing.

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This movie was great fo teaching kids that bullying and making up stories is not acceptable in todays world. I used it to teach a group of scouts about what not to do and also what to do when facing a bully

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This is a well written, well acted powerful story about a boy coming of age. I think it's an excellent movie to watch with your pre-teens and teenagers. It is set in 1965 when things were a lot different than today but the message doesn't change. Human Dignity + Compassion = Peace. I watched it and after doing so it took me back to that time in my life and it made me do some soul searching of my own. I asked myself how many times I may have hurt someone's feelings maybe without even realizing it.

Someone mentioned that the teacher Mr. Simon addressed the rumours of his being homosexual by simply quitting. There's so much more than that. He realized that if he didn't quit or deny the allegations it wouldn't just be him he'd be affecting it would be his dear friend the principal who was trying to keep her job as the first female principal and trying to put two boys through college. He took the high road and decided to save her job by leaving his.

I think everyone should watch this film and if I was a teacher I'd actually show it to my class. It carries a powerful message.

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