La primera escuela

This movie shows a village of people against mandatory school. And it makes us realize that what we take for granted today, was a fight of yesterday.

Today nobody would be against mandatory school, at that time, in this village, none were for it.

The movie is touching. It's giving you strength to fight for what matters for you, it shows the ambition and courage it needs to make things move.

In my opinion, it is a must watch if you're working in education.

However, on my opinion Alexandra Lamy was not the best fit for this role, I had some moments that I considered non authentic. But, that's subjective I guess.

The Jules Ferry laws are a set of French laws which established free education in 1881, then mandatory and laic (secular) education in 1882.(wikipedia). Religion was no longer taught in the schools but a day a week (Thursday ) was left to the parents who wanted their children to be religiously brought up;it was 1905 before France imposed the separation of the State and the Church and thus became the first laic country in Europa.

"Louise Violet " takes place circa 1887 -1889 : the audience has points of reference : they talk about the 1887 World Fair and a date on the blackboard reads "June 1889" .

These laws were an important date in French history, but some of the reasons stem from the defeat of 1870;it was because the Prussian soldiers were more educated than the French ones that they won the war; and "La Commune De Paris" (1871) which spawned the first revolutionary working-class movements was not far away and the government wanted the youth to be educated their way :the curriculum included , apart from reading,writing and arithmetic , (French ) history and geography ,military drill for the boys and housework for girls .Therefore,men taught boys and women girls,the schools were not mixed;it was 1933 before coeducation began ....

The principal was obviously inspired by Louise Michel (check the first name) ,a heroine of the Commune who was sent to a penal colony and when she was released,carried on with her work on behalf of the working-class ; thus she does not really represent the teachers of the era ,they called "les hussards de la République"(the Republic hussars);she's a socialist and she may seem rather naive ;on the other hand ,that she was first dismissed makes sense : the peasants needed their children at home, they were free labor force ,"slaves as soon as they're born " says the teacher who eventually realizes there's a strong solidarity between families ; the fight in the washing-place seems taken by force from Emile Zola 's "l'assommoir" though.

Unlike the first user, I think that Alexandra Lamy is quite good at her portrayal of an idealistic schoolteacher, coveted by the mayor who wants to marry her (and is her pupil too); the cast and credits which use the dictionary is a good idea .The screenplay is somewhat desultory at times but the cinematography is splendid indeed.