Movie Review of Pressure Cooker

This Documentary About a Cooking Class Has The Right Ingredients

Mar 30, 2009

The film Pressure Cooker shows how one Culinary Arts teacher at an inner city Philadelphia high school is determined to make a difference in kids' lives.

This award-winning documentary details the process students go through to compete in an annual Culinary Arts contest that awards college scholarships to high school seniors.

Wilma Stephenson’s Culinary Arts Class

Mrs. Wilma Stephenson’s cooking class at Frankford High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, doesn’t resemble a typical class in which students sit at their desks while the teacher lectures. The school has a 40 percent dropout rate, as evidenced by the nearly empty classrooms depicted in the film.

But here in Stephenson’s class, 13 students slice potatoes into perfect tiny footballs, chop tomatoes into beautiful squares, and flip omelets from pan to plate without sticking. The teacher also doesn’t lecture. Stephenson alternately screams, criticizes, praises, and kisses her students depending upon how well they perform their culinary duties.

She’ll chastise them for acting too “ghetto” and not taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities offered by high school (such as the prom) and beyond (scholarships waiting for high-achieving, underprivileged students). Stephenson seems to be the teacher at school feared by all the students – except the ones who actually take her classes and excel. Even the rival teachers at other schools dislike her, she confides to the camera.

A High School Teacher Who Loves Her Students

Although most of the film takes place in the kitchen – either in the classroom or at the competitions – the film also delves into the lives of three particular students, each living in broken or blended families. Whereas money is always tight in these families, sometimes it’s even more difficult for these students to get the emotional support they need from those people closest to them.

Many of the students in Stephenson’s class dream of getting a full scholarship to The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Others hope to win a partial scholarship to other colleges to pursue different areas. A group of her students hope to someday open a restaurant together.

Despite Stephenson’s occasional harsh comments (such as telling a girl her eyebrows are ugly and telling a boy that he’s not allowed to cry because he cut his finger), her love for the students is obvious. She comes in early, works over spring break, encourages the students during all kinds of school competitions (not just cooking), and most surprisingly, helps the boys gets clothing for a cooking run-through and takes the girls shopping for prom dresses.

In terms of story, Pressure Cooker has all the right ingredients: likable kids in need of a break; a teacher with a gruff exterior, but a heart of gold; and two directors with a gift for making the audience care about the subjects. As with many low-budget independent films, the only real weaknesses come from technical problems. Occasional sound glitches make some of the dialogue inaudible, and shaky/blurry shots remind viewers that real life is indeed complicated, messy, and unpredictable at times.

The copyright of the article Movie Review of Pressure Cooker in Documentary Films is owned by Leslie C. Halpern. Permission to republish Movie Review of Pressure Cooker in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.