Cero en conducta

In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the direction on a celebration day.

"Zéro de Conduite: Jeunes Diables au College" is based on the real life experience of Jean Vigo, who was the son of an anarchist militant that died in jail and was abandoned by his mother at the age of twelve, passing from boarding school to boarding school along his childhood. He died with only twenty-nine years old one year after the release of this film in France on 07 April 1933, but it has been censored by the French authorities until 15 February 1946.

Every decade, the cinema industry releases at least one movie about the relationship between students and teachers that reflects the behavior of the society. The surrealistic and anarchist satire "Zéro de Conduite: Jeunes Diables au College" shows a repressive school and is probably the predecessor to explore this theme in 1933. Therefore it is influential and important to see it at least once. François Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" (1959); James Clavell's "To Sir with Love" (1967); John N. Smith's Dangerous Minds (1995); Laurent Cantet's "Entre les Murs" (2008) among others, are more recent movies that discloses the increasing violence and lack of respect for the authorities in school and consequently in the society itself. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Zero de Conduite"

Vigo's first (and penultimate) fiction feature is a precocious but messy work that serves notice of the huge talent he possesses while clearly showing that he is still a man learning his trade. The story as such tells of a revolt by schoolboys against their strict masters, but it wanders all over the place and appears either to have suffered at the hands of some inept editor's scissors, or to contain an abundance of nascent ideas that Vigo has chosen – or been forced – to put to screen before they were fully formed. It all makes for a fragmented and episodic structure that nevertheless somehow seems to add to the charm of the piece. Interspersed between these disjointed plot developments are some eerily surreal moments, such as when the midget headmaster straightens his tie in the mirror and his reflection moves away a second or two after him, which ensure that this film, while not the finished article, is never less than fascinating.

In the spirit of anti-authoritarian revolution, a playful rallying cry for rebellion and non-conformity. I still find the film a bit sloppy, but perhaps sloppy is suitable for this material. Vigo has a lot of fun with form, making the structure as anarchic as the content, including surreal sequences that embody the heroes with magical properties. Again, we have some masterful visual work, reaching a crescendo in the magnificent trashing of the dormitory scene. The movie is very witty and subversive, although I do have to admit that I'm not likely to watch it a third time as it's a work I respect more than I enjoy.

Zero for Conduct - 8/10

Vigo's first fiction film is one of my favorites classics of all. From the presentation of the characters you can realize that the movie is something special; the kids are just great: they are intelligent, funny and over all, rebel , but with no loss of their candid side. The adults receive a grotesque layer of paint to put the olive to the acid-social humor cocktail. The technical department may be a little under the possibilities of its time, but still Vigo's crew make it by the smart use of simple resources like the dramatical application of animated items or simple edition tricks. The rest must be seen, not told… so get the DVD, forget those fancy details like surround sound (or clear sound) colors or complicated effects and relax for 45 minutes of a simple but rich classic.

Let's say what this doesn't have; riveting drama, well rounded characters, plush visuals, none of that is at stake here even as consideration. Which is for the better, if you're like me, and you want to see what life can be when freed from confines of story.

It's not even a film that directly fulfills me so much as how it paves a path for things to be done a certain way. See, many films from the era anticipate later movements, it was a fertile time. But none other so fully prophesies French New Wave in particular as this one here.

Look at the tropes and tell me.

The whole film is a series of improvised playing around against the rigid limits imposed by a story - given to us as kids fretting with the (storytelling) routine of a boarding school and its teachers. What little story there is, is for the kids to run around and play- act.

Teachers are shown as suitably buffoonish. The only one who is on their side, who shares in their playing, at one point does a Chaplin impersonation to amuse them. It's the same self-referential appraisal of movies as ideals that we find twenty years later in Godard.

And eventually it's about rebellion. The kids conspire to stage a revolt that takes over the whole school, this on the same day as an important public ceremony is supposed to take place on the grounds. The ceremony is turned into a circus, smashed up. The kids walk triumphant on the roof of the school, heroes of the revolution. French students would rejoice to see this in '68. The film was banned at the time as morally dangerous.

You can see how Vigo was born to anarchist parents, how he was a poet by inclination who wanted the spontaneous burst that turns life upside down and climbs up to where a view is possible. He was cut tragically short while on his way to becoming a Fellini, the story goes.