2019 Heartland Film Festival: ‘The MisEducation of Bindu’ ★★½
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By Bob Bloom
“The MisEducation of Bindu” is a mostly positive story about fitting in and finding your voice.
The movie is set mainly during one day in an Indiana high school — the movie was shot in Indianapolis — is often undercut by cliched situations and stereotypical characters common to a vast majority of films of this genre.
After just a few weeks in school, Bindu Chaudry is miserable. She had been home-schooled by her mother her entire life.
But, at the encouragement of her American stepfather, Bindu’s mom is persuaded to enroll her daughter in a public school, so she can meet other teenagers and broaden her experiences.
Instead, Bindu finds herself bullied and ridiculed at every turn. Her only friends are two boys who, like herself, are outcasts.
She gets no help from her teachers, one who offers a lame bromide of advice about trying to find her own tribe of like-minded students.
Bindu discovers she can test out of high school if she passes a math proficiency exam. But to do so, she must have her mother sign a consent form — which she refuses to do — and pay a $57 fee.
Pushed to the breaking point after finding her locker again vandalized, Bindu forges her mother’s signature and — and after learning about the fee, goes about trying to raise the money from the very classmates she wants to escape.
The frustrating aspect of “Bindu” is the difficulty in discerning if director Prarthana Mohan, who also cowrote the script with Kay Tuxford, is aiming for satire, social commentary or both.
“Bindu” offers some humorous moments, but the pacing is too slow for comedy. But Mohan must not to be going for laughs; she appears to be making a point about the impact of bullying and its repercussions.
What doesn’t help this premise is that most of the students and teachers with whom Bindu interacts are stock figures whose only existence seem to be either as foils or foes to advance the storyline.
Megan Suri performance as Bindu carries the movie. She is intelligent and sharp-witted, but she’s also a vulnerable teenager. And Suri displays this duality not only through words and action but through her physical mannerisms — the way in which she walks through the school halls, wishing to be invisible, and jumping at every sound.
Priyanka Bose as Bindu’s protective mother brings a fierceness to her part, while David Arquette as Bindu’s stepfather shifts from being a buffoonish foil to a loving parent trying the best way he can to help his new family.
“The MisEducation of Bindu” doesn’t always work, and it has a few dead spots — some judicious editing could trim five or more minutes — but, overall, it’s a feature that reiterates the point that high school is an adolescent jungle in which only the strong — and mentally agile — can survive.
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists
Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review
Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter
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THE MISEDUCATION OF BINDU
2½ stars out of 4
Not rated