Higher Learning Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Higher Learning Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 7, 2019

John Singleton paints a vivid, pointed, and poignant portrait of race, divisiveness, togetherness, and self discovery in Higher Learning. This is the writer/director's third film, following the landmark urban Drama Boyz n the Hood and the lighter, more tender Romance Poetic Justice. Higher Learning, as the title suggests, takes place on a fictional college campus where several students seek out their place in the world, deal with personal crises, and find their voices. The film is difficult to watch, not because Singleton flubs the material but rather because he nails it, presenting it with a grit and rawness that exposes audiences to clashing scenes of hope and despair, love and violence, separation and togetherness.

Malik looks to get his priorities in order.

Columbus University is home to a diverse student population. But with that diversity comes differences, differences in life choice, background, gender, skin color, wants, needs, and goals. The film follows three new arrivals on campus. Malik Williams (Omar Epps) is a young black student attending on an athletic scholarship. He's a gifted runner with aspirations of becoming a key cog on the school's track team. But his academics are not up to par. He finds himself struggling in Professor Phipps' (Laurence Fishburne) intro to political science course and seeks help from a tutor and fellow track athlete named Deja (Tyra Banks), to whom he is attracted. Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson) is a white girl who comes from a somewhat privileged background, having grown up near Disney Land in Orange County. She is a rape victim who finds some revenge when her roommate Monet (Regina King), herself a victim of a racial slur from the mouth of Kristen's rapist, organizes a posse of black students led by sixth-year rebel Fudge (Ice Cube) to punish the assailant. But Kristen slowly finds her voice and purpose with the help of a student activist named Taryn (Jennifer Connelly). Finally, Remy (Michael Rapaport) is a shy and quiet young man looking to fit in, somewhere, anywhere. Despite his best efforts to make friends and find a place to settle in school, he's regularly rejected and rebuffed. The outcast eventually finds acceptance in a small group of white supremacists/neo-Nazis led by Scott Moss (Cole Hauser) who lead Remy down a dark path of racial hatred with seemingly no hope of escape.

The film focuses on race and culture and the divisions and interconnections on campus, how each individual or group approaches the challenges of living and learning alongside one another. Singleton’s film is powerful no question, perhaps a little manufactured for dramatic effect but there’s no mistaking his intention of drawing attention not just to division but the responses to it, which are often violent or turn violent. The film is filled with flawed characters, some of whom learn and grow from their experiences, some of whom devolve into hopelessness and inescapable fanaticism. The film challenges audiences to question character motivations, to seek out in their own minds alternative ways of finding peace amidst violence and unity amidst division.

The film carefully paints its characters, taking time to explore the ensemble not in terms of black and white (literally and figuratively) but rather the person within, the motivations for inward withdraw, outward violence, and the hows and whys of cultural and racial barriers that erect throughout the film and get either fortified or torn down, one way or another. Singleton’s cast is terrific, with each lead -- Epps, Connor, and Rapaport -- more than capable of fielding their wildly varying internal responses to the outward strife that comes to define their college experiences, whether in bloody brawls, the aftermath of rape, or in the classroom where a hard but well intentioned and caring professor, played by the legendary Laurence Fishburne, serves as a guidepost of sorts in helping the students, particularly Epps’ Malik, to find their purpose in not just school, but in self. Singleton’s secondary cast necessarily lacks the deep and detailed definition of the lead trio, but Ice Cube and Tyra Banks, Cole Hauser, and Jennifer Connelly shine in critical support roles as the individuals closest to Malik, Remy, and Kristen, respectively.

Higher Learning Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Higher Learning, which is part of Sony's pressed (as opposed to burned) MOD (Manufactured on Demand) Blu-ray line, looks very nice, generally, but the image is not without its drawbacks. The picture exhibits some shimmering on Professor Phipps' jacket during his first scene inside the lecture hall. Shimmering also plagues a large swath of stadium bench seats seen at the 23:15 mark. What appears to be interlacing artifacts appear with regularity throughout the film, and infrequent spots and speckles additionally work their way in. Colors lack depth but still yield nicely prominent shades on the colorful 90s period attire, natural greens around campus, or blood in the final scenes. Black levels appear a bit raised as well, but flesh tones appear to be generally spot-on. Grain can be a little sharp but the image is at least not a victim of any egregious, detail-destroying smoothing. In fact, detailing is quite strong in most places and the most prominent highlight to be found on the transfer. Texturally, the movie is very rich and satisfying, with high yield facial and clothing textures the norm. Campus shots, whether out in the common areas or in various dorm rooms, enjoy pleasing sharpness and rewarding textural nuance. The 1080p transfer looks very good in most instances, but various problem spots creep in with too much frequency to label this image a perfect success.

Higher Learning Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sony's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless presentation for Higher Learning is effective and enveloping from the outset, with school band beats and immersive student body applause drawing the listener into the crowd. Energetic din at various other get-togethers on campus further enjoys fairly robust immersion and elemental detail, whether blaring party music or general chatter and fun. Music stretches the track considerably both lengthwise and through the rears. Musical clarity is not absolute but certainly good enough. Lighter atmospherics are equally rewarding, pulling the listener into some of the more essential locations, such as Phipps' office, which he shares in an open area with several other faculty members. A few gunshots lack oomph, but the resultant madness is sonically well conveyed. Dialogue can be shallow, a little hard to hear even under even more modest background ambient effects, but not always. For the most part, the spoken word is clear and positioned in the front-center channel, yielding quality reverb as necessary, particularly in the film's final act at the Peace Fest.

Higher Learning Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Higher Learning contains one extra, an audio commentary track with Director John Singleton. Singleton discusses project origins, the film's place in his career, the film's depiction of college life, story themes, actors and characters, and more. Like Singleton's Poetic Justice track, this one is a bit soft spoken but smartly delivered. Fans will find it well worth a listen. No DVD or digital copies are included. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

Higher Learning Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Singleton's career peaked with his first film, but Higher Learning was, and remains, a relevant piece of cinema that explores critical issues of race, identity, and division on the college campus. The film feels a bit manufactured for effect, but Singleton balances the necessary forays into stereotype in order to tell an important story about the dangers of divisiveness from multiple perspectives. It's one of the better ensemble films to come out of the 1990s. Sony's MOD Blu-ray delivers generally good but nevertheless flawed 1080p video, a quality multichannel lossless soundtrack, and an audio commentary as the lone extra. Recommended.