X
  • 2010
  • Not Rated
  • Truly Indie
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2010
  • Not Rated
  • Truly Indie
  • 1 h 30 m
The Cartel

Summary The Cartel shows us our educational system like we've never seen it before. Behind every dropout factory, we discover, lurks a powerful, entrenched, and self-serving cartel. But The Cartel doesn't just describe the problem. Balancing local storylines against interviews with education experts such as Clint Bolick (former president of Alli...

Directed By: Bob Bowdon

Written By: Bob Bowdon

  • 2010
  • Not Rated
  • Truly Indie
  • 1 h 30 m
  • 2010
  • Not Rated
  • Truly Indie
  • 1 h 30 m

The Cartel

Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 14 Critic Reviews
59
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary The Cartel shows us our educational system like we've never seen it before. Behind every dropout factory, we discover, lurks a powerful, entrenched, and self-serving cartel. But The Cartel doesn't just describe the problem. Balancing local storylines against interviews with education experts such as Clint Bolick (former president of Alli...

Directed By: Bob Bowdon

Written By: Bob Bowdon

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 14 Critic Reviews
59
50% Positive
7 Reviews
36% Mixed
5 Reviews
14% Negative
2 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 14 Critic Reviews
59
50% Positive
7 Reviews
36% Mixed
5 Reviews
14% Negative
2 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
88
Few documentaries have covered such an important matter so convincingly and with such clarity. When it comes to public education, we are all New Jerseyans.
By Kyle Smith FULL REVIEW
80
A brisk, incisive and mind-boggling -- no other phrase will work -- exposé of his native New Jersey's public education system.
By Kevin Thomas FULL REVIEW
70
Bowdon makes a compelling argument against the defensive maneuvers of teachers' unions and in favor of vouchers and charter schools, but his documentary is no exercise in free-market cant. It merely explodes the fiction that funneling more money into the same highly bureaucratized and politicized system will fix our deepening education crisis.
By J.R. Jones FULL REVIEW
50
Actually, everything in Bowdon’s rant about America’s woeful public school system is important, including Bowdon.
By Wesley Morris FULL REVIEW
50
The doc has won a host of awards at film festivals and it is a policy wonk's dream of a movie, but it is dry, statistic-laden viewing that is unlikely to attract much attention beyond education circles.
By Pam Grady FULL REVIEW
50
A lopsided whine about the state of American public schools, The Cartel is a lesson in dichotomous documaking: Effervescent and tedious, crusading and craven, it's a prime example of that ubiquitous oxymoron: the agenda-driven "expose."
FULL REVIEW
20
After decades of endless policy debates, you’d think fixing America’s schools would be a complex endeavor. But apparently not--at least according to this tunnel-vision editorial.
By S. James Snyder FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company Bowdon Media, Moving Picture Institute
Release Date Apr 16, 2010
Duration 1 h 30 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Tagline A Feature Documentary on How American Public Education Primarily Serves Its Employees, Not Its Children
Website http://www.thecartelmovie.com/
View All Details

Awards

Washington DC Independent Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations

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