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Home Subscribe About Us Features News Album Reviews Movie Reviews Past Movies Movie Resources Concert Reviews Book Reviews Top 10 Contact Us	The Class Stars: Francois Begaudeau, Nassim Amrabt, Laura Baquela, Franck Keita, and Julie Athenol Director: Laurent Cantet Scriptwriters: Laurent Cantet, Francois Begaudeau and Robin Campillo from the novel "Entre les Murs" Docu-drama French language (subtitled) Sony Classics Rating: Unrated but could be PG 13 for language Running Length: 128 minutes Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film for a 2008 Oscar and Best Director at 2008 Cannes Film Festival The Class is considered a "docu-drama," in which it is a documentary of a year in the life of a first-year high school teacher and his class, but some of the school's instructors are played by actors. The film is set in France and you have to read the subtitles fast in order to get everything. Francois Begaudeau, the teacher, plays himself and the class he teaches is the French language. You get to see class problems, successes, teacher meetings, parent-teacher conferences (real parents) and problems in disciplining. Also, differences between American and European school systems. Director Laurent Cantent has an eye for getting facial expressions on camera. The film opens at the beginning of the school year. It is an early high school class (ages 13-14) and takes a few minutes of each class to quiet everyone down. In fact, this is the first point of discussion, how much time is lost each day. Teachers anywhere can relate to that. The students are at the age when having an attitude is part of their persona and the teacher must deal with this daily. Patience is, indeed, a virtue in teaching. We meet Souleymane, a transfer student from Mali, upon whom much of the film centers. He is surly, no real role models in his family and could benefit from anger management. However, Souleymane, does have an interest in photography. Then, there is Esmeralda, clearly a bright student, but one with a sarcastic bent who tries to push everyone's buttons every which way, while sitting back and smirking. This is a diverse class with several nationalities and the learning of French isn't a top priority. The use of curse words is present. As the school year progresses, we see the teacher get ingenious in presenting situations to the class to interest them. One is to develop a self portrait, which turns out to be revealing. Discipline is usually done with a "look," and worse, to be sent to the principal's office. The teachers have meetings about students and you see the trouble-makers are in each teacher's realm. Present at the teacher meetings are student representatives and here, the representatives and their antics, are allowed to disrupt the teacher meeting. I found that unusual. The principal is a quietly effective, no-nonsense man with a peacemaking speciality. The teacher we follow, finds himself getting worked up with the kids and Souleymane's behavior until there is an incident, of which the aftermath is told from different perspectives. The Class is an effective way of telling a story, combining both a documentary look (kids can be natural actors) and actors who lend authority to the roles of teachers. We see that acknowledging the presence of a teacher in their midst is utmost---manners, to be precise---and then the discussion can begin. Oh, that this was present in all schools. Teachers struggle to educate and you sometimes wonder how it can be accomplished, period. Here, for example, the teacher doesn't think he is getting through to a student on French, but in the course of the conversation, finds the student has read Plato's "The Republic" just because she wanted to. At this age of a child's life, belonging to a group and attitude are a top priority. It's ten years down the road, when they look back and wonder "Why didn't I just study harder...," that a film like The Class is important. It serves as a mirror for life. Copyright 2009 Marie Asner