LAMBADA

LAMBADA centers around Kevin Laird, a young math teacher at Stonewood High, an affluent Beverly Hills school. One of Kevin’s students, Sandy, has a crush on him, much to the displeasure of her boyfriend, Dean.

Kevin ventures at night to a warehouse nightclub in East Los Angeles, where barrio kids gather to dance. Sandy is there, too, stunned to see Kevin, in tank top and sporting an earring, dancing the Lambada. Actually, Kevin dances to earn their respect so that he can tutor them in math and prepare them for the GED exam. Kevin’s dance club “study hall” is nicknamed Galaxy High.

Dean and his Stonewood High buddies discover what’s going on and expose Kevin’s double life. Stonewood’s principal fires Kevin, but Sandy and the barrio kids rally to his defense. To resolve the situation, the superintendent suggests an academic contest between Galaxy and Stonewood. If Stonewood wins, Kevin leaves; if Galaxy wins, he can stay. The principal tries to rig the contest so that Stonewood wins. The outcome is predictable, but the story as a whole has merit in stressing the importance of education.

What a tragedy that this film, like THE FORBIDDEN DANCE, presents the popular Latin dance as a relatively harmless means of recreation for teens when in reality it promotes casual sex and exploits women. There is also the same proliferation of profane and obscene language, along with nudity and sexually explicit dance movements.

The film also conveys poor values and morals, as Sandy and Dean are spoiled, selfish teens who throw a tantrum whenever they don’t get their way. Their concerns are purely physical and material. Christians should realize the emptiness of such a lifestyle and refuse to support movies which propagate these images. Young people need godly role models who will build character into their lives, not pretty faces espousing shallow relationships based on lust and greed.

Furthermore, the problem is not with dancing, for Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is a “time to mourn and a time to dance.” Rather, what kind of dancing? Is it the kind of lascivious dancing the daughter of Herodias performed before Herod, or the kind like David, who “danced before the Lord with all his might” (2 Sam 6: 14). As Psalm 149:3 says, “praise his name with dancing.”

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please address your comments to: Mr. Florio Fiorini, Chairman, The Cannon Group, 640 San Vincente Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90048, (213) 658-2100.