The Test (2000)

• 75%
• 2000
• Drama
• Peter Frintrup

The Test is the story of Lewis Washington and Chen Gonzales, two great friends of different cultures who must deal with racist teachers, biased curriculum, and the self-fulfilling prophesies of a society who must label people in order to segregate them. Although Lewis is African American, and Chen is half Hispanic and half Asian, they have found strength in their differences throughout their first three years of high school. But the two are torn apart when an intelligence test is issued to limit the enrollment to their predominately white wealthy high school before their senior year...suspiciously at the same time that a proposition ends all existing Affirmative Action laws. Will Chen and Lewis' friendship be able to survive the normal pressures of high school as well as the extraordinary pressures of being in the middle of a media circus while they take this controversial new test? Or will it buckle as they compete to keep their places in a school where the teachers praise books like The Bell Curve? A story of friendship against the odds, and the hope of youth, The Test asks questions of our educational institutions, and about who really controls the future of our children.