The Class - Laurent Cantet

I was little apprehensive about watching 'The Class' at first, despite of its Palme D'Or win and Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category. It focuses on the familiar grounds of teacher student relationships on which by now, hundreds of movies and tens of great movies have been made. But here’s my bit of advice – don’t close your eyes to this one, timeworn as its subject may sound. And if you have The Class screening anywhere close to your neighbourhood, make it there - on emergency footing.The film tells us the story of Francois..

I was little apprehensive about watching 'The Class' at first, despite of its Palme D'Or win and Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category. It focuses on the familiar grounds of teacher student relationships on which by now, hundreds of movies and tens of great movies have been made. But here’s my bit of advice – don’t close your eyes to this one, timeworn as its subject may sound. If you have The Class screening anywhere close to your neighbourhood, make it there - on emergency footing.

The Class by Laurent Cantent, based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Francois Begaudeau, treads familiar territories, yet manages to break surprisingly new grounds. And people (including me) who scoff at a French film winning the Palme D'Or, would do well to remember that it's the only one to do so in the last twenty one years.

The film tells us the story of Francois, a French Language teacher, teaching a classful of difficult multi-ethnic students in a school located in a rough and tumble neighbourhood of Paris. The students are neither exceptionally evil nor exceptionally stupid. They refuse to fall in line because they are supposed to. They will not be talked at, unless the teacher learns how to talk to them first. They are just waiting to be impressed.

Thus ensues a power struggle where the teacher wants to teach his students the way he thinks is right but that's not exactly what the students have in mind. The film surprises you with the documentary-like realism with strong undercurrent of tension and drama that erupts like magma at the most unexpected moments. The documentaryesque candour did not happen by accident. Francois Begaudeau, the author of the source novel, is cast as Francois, the teacher. And the ragtag bunch of students – shy Asian Wei (Wei Huang), mouthy Arab Esméralda (Esméralda Ouertani), angry African Souleymane (Franck Keita) and feisty Egyptian Khoumba (Rachel Regulier) are so natural in their skins that you have to force yourself to believe that they are not playing themselves. The effortless authenticity came through many rigorous workshops, three high-definition cameras mounted in the classroom, a shooting schedule that lasted an academic year and most of the school staff playing themselves.

And thankfully the realism of the film is not just skin-deep. Instead of a shepherd herding a bunch of unruly sheep to their pens, here the teacher is just as human as his students. He cares for the students to a fault, yet doesn't think twice about abusing them bitterly when his patience is tried one too many times. The students are sometimes gasp-inducingly audacious (they ask the teacher on the face if he is homosexual) but touchingly insecure and vulnerable in their moments of trouble.

It is heartening to see that the film treats both sides of the table with equal respect and brings up some difficult questions. Is education in its present form a necessary evil? Is mind a vessel to be filled or a fire to be kindled? How far can you go in your doggedness of doing good? The film also poses the thorny question of nationality. Where do your loyalties lie? The country you belong to or the country you stay in? Is nationalism a flat brush that paints over ethnic individuality? Or is ethnic individuality just racism in another guise? And finally, the most important of all, why on earth we need to learn the use of imperfect subjunctive?

As with the most profound questions in life, there are no easy answers to these and 'The Class' doesn't pretend to offer any. The answer, perhaps, lies in the last scene. After a very bitter student-teacher showdown , the term finally gets over. The camera revolves around the empty classrooms ringing with joyous laughters from the playground where the teachers and students are having a friendly soccer match. “You have to try as hard as you can, and then give up and take refuge in the little joys of life”, that scene said to me. Did it say the same thing to you? Watch the film and let me know. I will be waiting here.

Watch Trailer of this Palme D'or winner: