Log in
The Rule

The Rule

Want to Inner City Schools to Finally Succeed?

2014 · 90 min · History, Documentary

See how the Benedictine monks of Newark Abbey, in the heart of one of America's most dangerous cities, are able to achieve amazing success with the most vulnerable population: inner city African American and Latino teenage males. While Newark, NJ, with a high poverty rate of 32%, has an abysmal high school graduation rate, St. Benedict's Prep has a near 100% COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE rate. The film details how their "recipe for success" follows the 6th century Rule of Saint Benedict and how this rule can serve as a model for whole cities nationwide.

Directed by Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno

Your Rating

Make it a double feature

3h 5m together

The Rule

Tig

A close match in mood and era.

More from Marylou Tibaldo-BongiornoSee all →

Revolution '67Revolution '67 · 2007
Revolution '67
★ 6.02007
MovieDocumentary
A focus on the six-day Newark, N.J. riots in July 1967: they began as spontaneous revolts against poverty and police brutality and ended as fateful milestones in America's struggles over race and economic justice.
RustRust · 2021
Rust
2021
MovieDocumentary
RUST is the third documentary in Newark filmmakers Marylou and Jerome Bongiorno's 3Rs Trilogy on Urban America. Following the success of critically-acclaimed, award-winning national PBS broadcast REVOLUTION '67 (2007) on riots/rebellions of the 1960's and THE RULE (2014) on urban school reform, RUST uses Newark, New Jersey as a microcosm to take a deeper look into Rust Belt poverty, racism and mass incarceration while detailing industrialization and deindustrialization.

More Like This

Feminists: What Were They Thinking?Feminists: What Were They Thinking? · 2018
Feminists: What Were They Thinking?
★ 7.52018
MovieDocumentary
In 1977, a book of photographs captured an awakening - women shedding the cultural restrictions of their childhoods and embracing their full humanity. This documentary revisits those photos, those women and those times and takes aim at our culture today that alarmingly shows the need for continued change.
TigTig · 2015
Tig
★ 7.22015
MovieDocumentary
An intimate documentary that follows Tig Notaro, a Los Angeles based comedian, who just days after being diagnosed with invasive stage II breast cancer changed the course of her career with a poignant stand-up set that became legendary overnight. It explores Tig's extraordinary journey as her career ignites and as her life unfolds in grand and unexpected ways, all the while continuing to battle a life-threatening illness and falling in love.
The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah WilsonThe Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson · 2026
The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson
★ 7.42026
MovieDocumentaryCrime
An intimate, arresting portrait of cyclist Moriah Wilson—raised by a fierce, loving family—whose singular drive becomes her superpower, carrying her to athletic brilliance and, devastatingly, toward a life cut short by murder.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter