The Class - 2 smiles

Sometime, when you expect too much from a film, you’re disappointed. That’s what happened when I saw “The Class,” a movie that won the highly coveted Palm D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Plus, with 27 years of secondary teaching experience, I have some definite ideas about teaching and learning, which resulted in another reason for disappointment. “The Class” is not the least bit compelling … or revealing. If a similarly uneventful film about American students had been made, it would never be released. Set in a modern Parisian public school, “The Class” is based on a memoir by François Bégaudeau, recounting one school year teaching eighth grade inner-city immigrant youth. Bégaudeau plays himself, but director Laurent Cantet is responsible for the film’s documentary look, using non-professional teens to portray the students. Obviously, Cantet was hoping for authenticity, but along the way, he loses any sense of drama and significance.

The everyday life of a teacher, discussing writing assignments, encouraging students to be engaged in their learning, knowing how to handle teen rebellion and attitude, does not make for riveting drama. Similarly, teachers’ staff meetings, getting bogged down with operational issues like the repair of a coffee machine instead of discussing ways to help these students, further add to the frustration that more should be happening. Eventually, in the last 30 minutes, a conflict arises, but this happens over something that absolutely astonished me. Student representatives, two girls, are allowed to sit in a meeting where teachers discuss other students’ grades. Of course these student reps share information with their classmates, which sparks the conflict. To add fuel to the fire, Bégaudeau, angry at the turmoil these girls are causing, calls them ‘skanks.’ Appropriate? I think not. Lessons learned? Not much. Modern education fails because of class and economic issues that are much greater than presented in this movie. “The Class” has been called absorbing and provocative. I beg to differ. French with English subtitles. 1/30/09