The Ivory Tower (2014)

Ivory Tower is a documentary film about higher education in the United States. Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2014:

** Written and directed by Andrew Rossi

** Original music composed by Ian Hultquist

** Run time: 90 minutes

What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of three review aggregators:

** 65 per cent = Meta

** 70 per cent = IMDb

** 78 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)

** 82 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)

According to the professional critics and the general audience, this film is good, but not great. The average ratings correspond to something like three or four stars on Amazon.

On the US version of Amazon there are more than 100 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.4 stars. If you ask me, this average rating is quite appropriate. Why? Because there are positive and negative elements in this film.

On the positive side:

(1) There is useful information about the past (the history of higher education in the US).

(2) There is useful information about the present (the current situation of higher education in the US).

On the negative side:

(1) There is a lack of focus: the film jumps from one place to another; and from one aspect of the topic to another.

(2) There is nothing about the future. There are no suggestions about how to solve the current crisis in higher education. No answer to the question: “What are we going to do now?”

In my opinion, the positive elements are stronger than the negative, but the negative elements cannot be ignored; cannot be overlooked. Therefore I think this film deserves a rating of four stars.

PS. Fail State is a documentary film which premiered in 2018. The topic is higher education in the US.

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