The Class (2008)

Pretty Good

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This film tells of a difficult class with very inappropriate behaviors and learning difficulties. The end was opened, which I honestly did not appreciate because I like to know the whole story and not have to speculate about its mismatch. At times the students' attitudes irritated me deeply, which led me to conclude that in the end teachers do not have so much to complain about, for they could have been worse. The story also recounts current situations as the illegal immigrants in France as well as the "tin neighborhoods" in which these people are subject to live.

THE CLASS (aka ENTRE LES MURS) is a film that is certain to be divisive in some way, whether it be with the borderline slavish devotion to realism or the teacher at the center of the story. While I wouldn't say that I loved it, it was very good on multiple levels. The film follows a teacher (Francois Begaudeau) in a Parisian high school and the class he teaches over the course of a year. Pretty early on, it becomes clear that he has a different approach to teaching than a lot of the other teachers he works with, building a rapport with his students by getting to know them on a personal level. Still, this bunch of inner-city kids aren't the easiest to work with, and have a lot of ups and downs with their teacher. Earlier when I used the word "slavish," I didn't completely mean it in a negative sense. What I really mean is that the film goes to great lengths to accurately portray its subject, the Parisian educational system. I remember bits and pieces from when I was in high school French class, but its an entirely different experience watching what it's probably like on screen. One way in which this film takes a realistic approach is by using (apparently) non-actors/students to portray the class of students. The end credits also indicate that a lot of the teachers used their real first names, probably because they were also teachers in real life. Most importantly, this film is based on the life experiences of the actor portraying the main teacher, M. Marin, who also used to be a teacher himself. Completing this realist approach is the exclusive use of hand-held camera-work and the lack of a score. All of these aspects combine to create the feeling of watching a documentary. Even the dialogue doesn't really feel like dialogue, instead hewing pretty close to how French students probably talk. This cinema verite approach might not work with a lot of people, who might find it boring, but I thought it was compelling enough. The only major issue I have, and this could just be me imposing my cultural experiences onto another, is an event which takes place late into the film. Given that the students in this film are fairly rowdy and occasionally disrespectful, it would make sense that there be some disciplinary action taken. And by and large, the teacher deals with his students in a very progressive way. However, I felt like he crossed the line in one scene where he lets his own students get the better of his emotions, and there isn't any repercussions. For me, this was a large setback to the likability he had established up to that point, and yet after the event boils over it was like nothing had happened at all. Again, it's probably because things work a little differently in France, but it probably wouldn't fly here in the US, especially in the current academic climate. Overall, THE CLASS is still a very valuable and interesting film for the insight it provides into the inner workings of the Parisian school system and the relationship of a teacher with his students. Highly recommended.

Not something I watched recently, but something I referenced quite recently. The audience I watched it at the Angelika when it was on limited release a few years previously was, like most Angelika crowds, very much on board with the paths the movie took, and perfect company to enjoy this kind of flick with.Supposedly based on a true story, this is one of those movies that asks more questions than it answers, where the characters are so real they're almost scary (what will you do when you are in class with a few of them asking the same questions they do in François' class - how does one react when one sees too much o themselves in them - so much reality crammed into one class), and might just about put those people off that come into a movie hall seeking escapist entertainment. Life, smack in the face! As always with movies of this genre, it's timely, topical, and gritty to the point of being extremely uncomfortable.Another thing that sets this one apart from the rest o its ilk - we do Not get to know François (the teacher). It's all about the children in François' class, and their questioning of authority while trying to get a rise from the teacher, who is continuously striving to just do his job - teach. Gradually though, it becomes a game of oneupmanship between each character involved throughout, using their strengths and the others' weakness to play off one another. Think 'Half Nelson' (albeit en Français).

Entre les murs is not the first film about a school of children of different ethnicities, with different and often problematic backgrounds, but - compared to many others - it is definitely more realistic, without events forming top new stories. But this realism creates a certain aridity and protraction, and unless you are teacher or student, you would probably get upset about the tolerance and teaching level, and begin to ponder on and over degeneration of both education and youth. In the film, we see perhaps a couple of pupils longing for knowledge, most of them have trivial and/or limited interests, are over-sensitive about their ethnicity, tend to regard common disagreements as racial implacability, etc. Even if it is a humdrum of schooling nowadays, I do not approve it, neither I have sympathy for those behaving badly and disturbing others. The staff seems too apathetic, focusing on solutions on paper rather than winnowing "good" out of "bad", and the goal of the entire seems to choose between bad and worse - better a kid in a classroom than on the streets.Well, the cast is pleasant, realistic, beginning with François Bégaudeau, a real-life French language and literature teacher in a middle school in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, and ending with all children who, as to me, seem older than their characters of 13-14 y.o. But still, the film is a kind of perpetuation, without dynamism and character development. As for a feature film, not my cup of tea, really.