Conrack (1974 film)

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Conrack is a 1974 film based on the 1972 autobiographical book The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy, directed by Martin Ritt and starring Jon Voight.

[edit] Synopsis

The story follows a young teacher assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families. He finds out that the children as well as the adults have been isolated from the rest of the world and speak a dialect called Gullah and "Conrack" is their way of saying his name "Conroy." The school is a two room school with the principal teaching grades one through four and Conrack teaching the higher grades. He discovers that they know very little. He tries to teach them about the outside world and comes in conflict both with the principal and the superintendent. This comes to a head when he takes them to Beaufort on the mainland to go trick or treating, which the superintendent has forbidden. He also must overcome parental fears of "the river." As a result, he's fired, causing unrest on the island, as if to mimic the wider world's concerns with the Vietnam War. The children come out to see him leave, bringing along a record player on which they play the beginning movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as he leaves.

[edit] Reception

The film received much positive reviews, it currently has a "Fresh" score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, based of 8 reviews. (7 fresh reviews and 1 rotten).