Ucitelka

Saw this at the Leiden International Film Festival 2016. The exposition of characters is very original, but it confused me in the beginning and made me wonder where the story was heading. The following may serve as heads up for subsequent viewers. In alternating short scenes, we observe a school building at daylight with students, and the same building at night with parents inside. In hindsight, we see a meeting of parents as the main course, and it is precisely that meeting that carries the story line. The parallel illustrations with scenes in and out of school are necessary to bring the core message home.

Several movies from former communist countries drive the message home that corruption and power abuse is a major issue. We start getting an idea what the problem is, when the teacher in question, on her first day, asks all students what their parents do for a living. It gradually grows on us that her interest is not seeking background information about the students, very commendable if that was the case, but foremost that she is planning to make effective use of their potential.

An example: One of the fathers is said to work on the airport, and she immediately sees an opportunity to smuggle bakery to her family abroad. Later on it appears that the airport employee in question is working as a sales clerk, and has no contact at all with plane crew personnel. So he can only make a feeble attempt to hand it over to passing plane personnel. It does not work due to everyone ignoring him. He is stuck with the cake, and sees no other way out than eating it by himself and not facing the music when coming home with it. This is just an example, but serves well as an illustration what this movie is about. Said teacher uses parents and children for a variety of domestic tasks, and passes information in return which parts of their home work should be studied in depth, as an examination about that particular material can be expected the next day.

The meeting called by the school director does not progress as smoothly as planned. The majority of the parents do not dare to speak out that they feel "used" by the teacher too, or either see no harm in it "everyone does it". It all comes down to the fact that high marks for the children are very important for their future, and parents are prepared for anything to accommodate that. At first, the screenplay focuses on two families in particular, who are very outspoken they will sign the petition. We see various scenes in class and at home to illustrate the problem very thoroughly. Alas, for a considerable part of the running time these two couples are alone with their complaints, and no other parents seems prepared to follow suit. It takes some time for a few (very few) others to join in, and we hear their stories as well via scenes at home. This approach with scenes alternating between locations and protagonists works very well, and is useful for keeping our interest.

Nevertheless, the meeting falters and most parents leave without having signed the petition. Yet, a very surprising outcome is to be expected, after all (no details, no spoilers). Apart from an indictment against people in a powerful position who may abuse their official position for private purposes, it also reminds us that corruption is still a major issue in some of the former Communist countries, as can be readily derived from recent movies like Durak/The Fool (Bykov 2014), Dolgaya Schastlivaya Zhizn/A Long And Happy Life (Khlebnikov 2013) and Leviathan (Zvyagintsev 2014). Those issues are not eliminated, apparently, and we still read about power abuse, self-serving bureaucrats and other forms of corruption in contemporary newspapers. On the other hand, similar issues exist in our Western countries as well, and the fact that papers, books and movies are not so outspoken about is, cannot be construed as a reason to believe that we are very different off here. Situations like the ones demonstrated in this movie, are feasible everywhere. I think this is the central theme of this movie, letting us stay awake and not lean backwards while thinking such problems only exist in far-away countries.

A movie called "The Teacher" has to be an uplifting movie about all the good teachers do, and the inspiration they bring to their students, right? Well, not exactly, particularly if you believe bribing, using power for your own benefit and to bully others, and beings selfish is something teachers should teach.

"The Teacher" tells the story of a school meeting, where the parents of the students of a class meet to talk about the teacher of their children, for reasons that are not very clear at the beginning, but seem to be pretty damning for the aforementioned teacher. Little by little, by flashbacks, and by the conversations between the parents, we get to know the problem, and we get to know the different opinions and why those different opinions happen.

It is a very interesting look on how power, families, or school work, with a lot of dark humor and sarcasm and an ironic look to an era where Communism was in power in what nowadays is Slovakia. The director, Jan Hrebejk, goes for satire, not being bleak and angry, but tongue-in-cheek. Nothing of what he tells will be particularly surprising, but centering on the abuse of power and corruption in a school, instead of in the government or military, offers a fresh look, and the amazing work by Zuzana Mauréry elevates this movie to another level. Her acting is amazing, and she brings Mária to life in a performance that will stay with the viewer long after the credits roll. A really interesting, and good, movie.

We all know that our opinions and behaviour are largely affected by other people. That is true both in democratic and authoritarian societies. A classical film that work out this theme is Sidney Lumet's film "Twelve Angry Men". In this Slovakian film the scene is not a jury but parents in a school class. The detestable acts have been carried out by the children's teacher who is a leading member of the communist party. The film supports our hope that is possible to withstand the power elite - yet the outcome it is far from clear.

Set in 1983 in a Slovakian school, this is a powerful and dialogue driven Czech film directed by Jan Hrebejk and written by Petr Jarchovsky. During this era, the nation was entrenched in the Soviet Union's Communist orbit.

Zuzana Maurery is superb portraying the imperious and rather despicable teacher Maria Drazdechova, who uses her position of Party Chairwoman at the school to manipulate parents and students into doing all sorts of favors for her. If they refuse, she makes sure they are harassed and given poor grades, while those who cooperate are protected and given high marks.

When a rather tragic incident occurs with one of the harassed students, a meeting is called for all parents in the teacher's class to try and investigate what exactly is happening. Often told through flashbacks, we begin to see the web Drazdechova has spun here. The supporting cast , too numerous to mention, are truly excellent here, as well, with most naturalistic performances. It will all lead to a highly dramatic conclusion.

All in all, I thought this was a move that was very well acted, directed, and written, so if you like cerebral and intense foreign dramas you may very well like this one.

One thing must be explained: only people who lived through this era here in Czechoslovakia, or other Socialist or Communist country, will understand this movie in holistic ways. A perfect cast portraying, what was once an every day practical life of ordinary subordinated people, who either served the system or those who refused and suffered the consequences. The thing is, it does not matter if your motives were opportunistic or not, most were afraid and did only what they had to, just not to be seen stepping out of the row or just simply to survive. Anyhow, my parents were also not part of the Communist party, so I give credit and kudos to all who raised their voices and were often times silenced. Only these people practically know, how hard it was to survive, once you were blacklisted... And the others? It is just very sad, that most of the powerful communists, are today were well established, wealthy and continuing to poison our society in new ways possible... The regimes have changed, but the people remain the same...