Year released: 2008
Ah, high school. The Goth kid who claims to dress "differently" as a matter of self-expression, yet who looks like every other Goth kid around the world. The Asian kid whose good at math. The bored girls who need every ounce of energy to get their voices to a whisper. The kid of ambiguous sexuality. The roughnecks in the back who never crack a book and don't take off their caps until the teacher orders them to do so. The wise-guys (and girls) who will do or say anything just to get a laugh or to wind up the teacher. You were one of these kids, I was too. And that's part of what makes this movie so amazing and such an enjoyable treat.
Seen through the distance of time, we are able to recognize these kids for what they are--adolescents struggling to find their own voice through whatever means they can. They may act out; they may withdraw. But whatever they do we, as adults, have to remember that they are just kids and will do kid things. It is important for us (up to a point of course, nobody should be made a fool of) to try and reach these kids, try and understand them. The hero of this movie Mr. Marin (Francois Begeaudeau who wrote the book on his real-life experiences that this movie was based on and is essentially playing himself) gets this. Some of his colleagues don't. And even when it would perhaps be the smarter thing for Marin to cut his losses with a particular student, he doesn't He demands respect yes. But he also goes to back for his kids, tries to assess their performances honestly and fairly and hands out praise wherever and whenever it's due.
It's perplexing to me how posters on sites like imdb question Begeaudeau's teaching methods. The odds are stacked against him--the kids are, for the most part, either sullen or argumentative. They don't do their assignments and they act up--a lot. They talk back. Begeaudeau tries to reach them anyway he can--cajoling, mocking, scoffing, prodding, sometimes even condescending. But the bottom line is he cares. And these are hard cases. One girl, Khoumba, serves as a stark example. As the year opens, she is friendly and largely respectful to her teacher. Smart-mouthed sure, but nothing over the top and frequently she raises good points. However, her mood changes abruptly to the point where she flat-out refuses to do anything asked of her which prompts a showdown between her and Begeaudeau. Nothing is really resolved; Khoumba doesn't mean her apology and Begeaudeau has failed to reach her. Yet by the time the spring arrives, the two are more or less on the same page again. What happened to prompt Khoumba's change? Who knows? She alludes to "not acting like a kid anymore," which could mean there was some traumatic upheaval in her life (a death? a pregnancy?). But maybe it's nothing more than just having a bad day. Begeaudeau, though, cares enough to try and reach her.
Many of the children are from immigrant families (Algerians, Moroccans, Malians, Chinese) and it's doubtful how much parental involvement there is. Of course, part of this is because of the language barrier--the children know French but not the parents. And this is how the hardest case in the class, a boy from Mali named Souleymane, has managed to convince his mother that he studies hard and does his homework without fail when the reality is 180 degrees opposite. In the most powerful scene in the film, Begeaudeau accuses the two class representatives of behaving like "skanks" for laughing it up during a teachers' meeting. Souleymane uses this as an opportunity to act out his frustrations, under the guise of defending his classmates' honor. This inadvertently touches off a fracas that leads to Khoumba getting her face bloodied and Souleymane facing a disciplinary panel that will determine whether or not he will be expelled. It's a little worse for him than that; his father will likely send him back to Mali if he gets expelled ("you don't know Souleymane's dad") so his whole future in France (presumably a better world) hangs in the balance.
There are so many talking points that come out of this movie. What are the limits of tolerance within a school? How far is too far when we are talking about a student's behavior? And then there are the simmering tensions between the students themselves. As a soccer fan, I completely enjoyed the scenes where students were asked to give speeches defending some point of view. A Moroccan boy alerts his classmates to the fact that the African Cup of Nations is soon starting and happily points out that--just in case you didn't know--Morocco beat Mali, 4-0, the last time the teams played and that Mali will now be watching the tournament on the sideline. So another Malian boy leaps into the fray, jumping on the Ivory Coast bandwagon as the representative team of black Africa. Then a student of Caribbean descent points out how the French national team has been historically aided by players from Guadeloupe. It is spellbinding stuff--mixing sport, culture and politics and it's the kind of thing I just can't get enough of.
This movie has rightly received many honors--it is flat-out brilliant. It's important to realize that these are not actors but real-life teachers and students which lends immediacy and authenticity to the picture. The movie also has a tremendous "fly-on-the-wall" quality, allowing us to see inside the classroom and empathize with the characters. This is really, really good stuff and I would definitely be interested in seeing a follow-up say 10 years down the road so that we can see what's become of Begeaudeau and his charges.
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