'The Class' in English...

Perhaps I have been so well conditioned by American cinema that I was often waiting for certain disgruntled students to pull out a butterfly knife and take a literal stab at their teacher during Laurent Cantet's Entre Les Murs (The Class). I can't say I've ever seen a film which so poignantly displayed a 'modern' classroom, and managed to do so whilst crossing a cultural boundary as large as the French would be so quick to pronounce. At no point did I feel this snapshot could be pigeon-holed as French, or even European. Luckily our two languages have so many similarities the subtitles do a good job of translating cross-culturally. The brave but subtle realism of the student-teacher interaction reminded me of how simple things were whilst in high school; we knew what we liked, we knew what we hated, and didn't have qualms about verbalising either. Certain lines are blurred upon maturing as we feel the need to conform to social norms whether it be in a workplace, tertiary institute or even a social gathering. These kids have a certain honesty to life which I truly revere...

I found that many of the teacher's rebuttals to the unfounded statements made by cocky students made me quiver. This took me back to my adolescence and smacked me with the difference between what I understood and what I did not, reminding me of my father's repeating statement about how 'kids think they know everything'. It made the situation all the more intense, and if you allow me to be draconian in my criticism, the acting was believably 'real' and the classroom scenes were so enthralling I didn't want them to end. Any exposition involving the teachers seemed almost secondary yet it did give me a sense of what might have been going on behind closed doors at my own high school, such as emotional breakdowns or arguments over a students future. "We can't substitute ourselves for the parents" says a colleague, yet this is exactly what the lead teacher ties himself up in by saying the wrong things and becoming much too emotionally involved. It was brave for him to tell a goth who is trying to be 'different' that he's simply conforming himself, but he eventually goes too far.

Stunning film, highly recommended. This was released in 2008 so it shouldn't be difficult to get a hold of. For the purists I have used the French poster not the US DVD cover =P