Movie Review: The Class ("Entre les murs")

Here is a classroom drama for the 21st century, complete with disenfranchised students, frustrated teachers and a system that's failing everyone on every level. Francois Marin (Francois Begaudeau) has been teaching French at an inner city Parisian school for 4 years with an obvious passion for his subject, yet only a small handful of his 14-15 year old pupils has any interest whatsoever in learning. Talking and bickering during class, displaying little respect for their teacher and completing assignments with half hearted efforts, this group of racially mixed kids seems almost unreachable. As the film progresses, however, a fascinating dynamic develops among students, teacher and the school system. Marin begins to discover just how irrelevant to the lives of these students his curriculum seems and how fine a line must be drawn between confronting disciplinary problems and offending his pupils. His classroom is full of interesting characters: Wei (Wei Huang), a refreshingly studious and well behaved Chinese student; Khoumba (Rachel Regulier), a smart, confrontational black student; Esmeralda (Esmeralda Ouertani), a complicated and quirky Arab student; and the disruptive Souleymane (Franck Keita) from Mali, whose tragic lack of confidence causes him to act out in ways which earn him numerous disciplinary hearings.

Begaudeau, who wrote the screenplay and the book on which the film is based, is an appealing actor who appears to be playing a semi-autobiographical role, bringing out the many conflicting emotions of this teacher in a compelling way. The young actors playing the kids, many of whom share the same names as their characters, are uniformly excellent and authentic. This biting, involving and disturbing movie is a welcome relief from the usual "Hollywood" version of school drama where solutions are found, lives are turned around, teachers rewarded and students enlightened. Perhaps the most provocative thing about "The Class" is that, despite bad behavior and poor attitdues from the kids, we're left with the feeling that the teachers and the school system have somehow let these students down, rather than the other way around.

Things to love about this movie: A heartbreaking scene in which Marin praises Souleymane for the wonderful photographs he's taken for an assignment while the usually surly student can barely contain his delight yet at the same time cannot accept the compliments as valid; interesting teacher conferences during which many concerns and frustrations are aired; the many subtle ways in which students and teacher impact each others' lives; an amazing cast with wonderful faces and exuberance

Things to hate about this movie: The outcome for Souleymane (though it is neither unexpected nor unrealistic)

Pleasant surprises: No easy solutions or relationships; awareness of the many complications for immigrant students trying to fit into a very Caucasian school system

Unpleasant surprises: The betrayal of teacher by students and vice versa