‘Sylvia’ — pioneering teacher

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 18

‘Sylvia’ — pioneering teacher

“Sylvia,” the New Zealand-made film about the teacher and best-sell-ing author, Sylvia AshtonWarner, will start at the Academy tomorrow. Sylvia struggled for years with tradition-bound school administrators to have her innovative teaching methods accepted by, and incorporated into, the New Zealand educational sysyem. Michael Firth’s film, “Sylvia,” covers her years as a small-town teacher in the 19405, compressing into a period of several months events which took place over a period of nine years. “All of the incidents actually occurred in her

at trd

hans petrovic

life — but they did take place in three different towns,” Firth says. “The character of the school inspector is also a composite of different people, one romantic, the other practical — but everything in the film is based

on real events.” At the beginning of the film, we join a young Sylvia (Eleanor David), her husband (Tom Wilkinson) and their three young children on a bus travelling to their new post at a Maori school in

a remote town. Sylvia is recovering from a nervous breakdown, which is recalled by various school inspectors who wonder if she is up to the rigours of running an isolated school with her husband.