La Vie scolaire

This little movie about, quote, "a ghetto school in a ghetto" is amazing. The acting and dialouge is low key and true in a way that gives a documentary feeling. I was truly touched, and this movie will stay in my thoughts for a long time.

Brilliant script that genuinely made me laugh out loud many times. The ending was a rushed but also that seemed to be on purpose too - detailing the reality of a school kids situation in Saint-Denis.

A movie about the difficult life in French suburbs' schools. Some nice jokes, but not a "great" feel-good movie, and the story is not always very factual... However an interesting story and quite good actors.

I found this movie gripping from beginning to end. It creates a series of clearly developed and delineated characters who all attend or teach in a high school in one of the poor suburbs of Paris. The teachers, most of them, try to help the kids connect with their schooling in some way, though that isn't always easy. Some of the students are bright and could succeed, but have a lot of extra-curricular hurdles that keep getting in their way. Others just aren't meant for school.

These various threads are woven together by first-rate actors and directing, such that they never leave you looking at your watch. These become real people for you, and you want them - most of them, at any rate - to be able to succeed.

No one here is perfect. (You probably aren't either, if you really take a good look at yourself.) Still, most not just want something more out of life, but are willing to do something to earn it. You want them to succeed.

It looks somehow realistic not caricatural. I gave it 8 because while the dialogue reflects quite accurately the real-life in poor Paris suburbs, it is difficult for non-French citizens to understand and relate to the characters.