The Class

I’m a middle school teacher. So watching The Class, a gritty docu-drama about a tough French class of 14 year olds in France is fascinating and sickening at the same time. The teacher, Francois Begaudeau, or M. Marin as he is called in the movie, is a handsome man who seems to truly care about his students, challenging them to become better speakers, readers, and writers of French – he doesn’t let them get by with sloppy responses and he ignores a lot of sassy remarks. He’s fascinating to watch. The students, who are actual French students, are even more mesmerizing and so like the English speaking middle school students I know. They look bored; they question everything, and they put on a brave front but at the same time seem so awkward and unsure. I watched the DVD extras and director Laurent Cantet had the kids, actual students in the school that Begaudeau taught, do an improv class, helping them to work on authentic responses, and it really worked. These kids were making me uncomfortable – I felt as if they were in my class, and I had to get them under control.
The Class or Entre les Murs (Between the Walls), also made me wonder about the differences between American and French Schools. Sure in many ways these kids seemed like American kids, but there were some aspects of this French school I found odd. The kids seemed to have a lot of power within the school. They even had student representatives sit in on disciplinary meetings about other students. The teachers sat as group and tried to come up with a point system for dealing with discipline problems and the man in charge didn’t seem to have much control of the school. And then when one troublesome boy was finally dealt with, his punishment seemed extreme.
What was I doing watching a thought provoking teacher movie so close to school resuming, I do not know. It is usually my policy to have nothing to do with students, schools, even young adult literature, during the precious summer months, but I had really wanted to see this movie. And I am glad I did. Well worth watching, even if you are not a teacher.
The Class is going on my list of the Best Edgy Teacher Movies*:
• The Class (2008)
• Half Nelson (2006)
• Notes on a Scandal (2006)
• School of Rock (2003)
• Election (1999)
*NOT feel good teacher movies, I hate those