Higher Learning

A film set on a university campus. Three new students at Columbus University are followed. Malik has come on an athletics scholarship; he will run, but he is struggling academically and his scholarship depends on it. Kristen is assaulted at a party in her first week and the event changes all her relationships on campus. Remy cannot connect with anyone, and his isolation moves him towards a racist group on campus. The film runs the three lines together. The campus is presented as a promise of living together, but the groups stand apart from each other and the tension grows. At the centre is a question: what happens when an institution puts people in the same place. The idea comes out in the scenes where Professor Phipps asks the students exactly that. Omar Epps, Kristy Swanson, Michael Rapaport, Jennifer Connelly, Ice Cube and Laurence Fishburne are in the cast. John Singleton directed. The film was argued about on release; some critics said it presented its issues too plainly. A direct example of its period for anyone who likes 1990s American cinema and films about social questions. Before you watch, know this: it moves towards a hard event and shows violence.