The classroom, a microcosm of society, comes under the magnifying glass in The Class.
The 2009 Cannes Film Festival is a little over a month away, and last year’s “best film” prizewinner The Class has only just been released in India. But better late than never, as they say! This French film centred around the student-teacher theme has been a festival favourite (also nominated at the Oscars in the foreign film category this year), and you are likely to compare it with many other films that have been made on the same subject.
But the protagonist teacher in The Class isn’t quite like Meryl Streep’s character in Music of the Heart or Hilary Swank’s character in Freedom Writers, or even Julia Roberts of Mona Lisa Smile. In its racial references, however, The Class comes closest to parts of To Sir, With Love.
What makes it different from others in the genre is the manner in which it swiftly drifts away from the usual teacher-student equation. The teacher — François Marin (played by François Bégaudeau who, incidentally, plays himself in the film, having been a former teacher and the writer of the book on which this movie is based) — takes French lessons for a class of racially mixed 15-year-olds, a few of whom have grave interpersonal troubles.
Marin’s direct way of dealing with students, giving them enough room to argue as equals, to the point that they forget the respect he demands, is interesting to note.
The story picks up regular goings-on at schools — parent-teacher meetings and teachers’ panel discussions interspersed with classroom shenanigans. As if under a magnifying glass, the heated verbal exchanges between students and Marin lie at the heart of this film. These exchanges are minutely scripted, and they are engaging and perceptive. Yet, it gets tiring after a while, and the story stagnates within the four walls of the classroom.
But you want to trudge along, because there is something here. A teacher who doesn’t beg to be different, but one who believes he’s fair and unbiased — and definitely not racist. But is he? A slip of tongue and Marin finds himself in a situation that he can’t seem find a simple answer to. And neither can we.
