melissdo

Dear wonderful IMDb folk,

I was really surprised by not liking this movie. I thought François Bégaudeau seemed incredibly dispassionate about teaching and his obsession with his own voice and deaf ear to all of his students infuriated me! My students in Philly would mutiny the kind of authoritarian rule he staged. I think the students he had were pretty fabulous--not the insolent jerks the teachers thought they were, and it upset me to watch him kill the potential they had to enjoy and learn from school. He interrupted everything they said either with an insult or to complete their thought for them so that they couldn't claim credit. It was like he was out to invalidate them as human beings.

As a film, I also though The Class fell short. The tension (socioeconomic class dynamic, adult/child dynamic, classroom dynamic, race and immigration) was all there, but it was constant and unchanging. The climax scene was just an echo of all the other scenes in which the teachers talked and students were not listened to. The actual language barrier during the climax intensified how deaf the teachers were to student and community needs. The characters were realistic, though static and flat, and the acting was decent--probably because a number of the actors weren't trained actors, but were in fact students and teachers AND because the camera stayed back--in general the cinematography was fantastic--the lens didn't intrude too much on the actors and so they were left to just be, to naturally be, which is something you don't much see in mainstream cinema. And one last thing in reference to character: the class personalities were right on.

The end, I will say, was awesome. I won't spoil, but I must say it was a perfectly subtle and perceptive comment on Bégaudeau's teaching abilities and on what happened in that classroom. It also showed how fragmented and confusing education is in school, particularly for kids who come from a home that honors a culture very different from the culture of school.

Sincerely, Melissa

Chun allies humor and danger in this short which looks at race, age, and class in fresh light. The film is spiced with personal connection which gives the viewer a chance to relate more closely with the text than is usually allowed. Fantastic cinematography and realistic dialogue are the best parts of the movie, along with the absolutely adorable and talented child-actors! The fact that the events in the film are portrayed through the child-characters' points of view is what gives this film the "fresh light" I referred to up top--Tze Chun's point of view must be equally as fresh and I look forward to more work from this up-and-coming director/writer/ Renaissance Man.