As a teacher, I am sometimes frustrated with the portrayal of classroom life in movies. Entre Les Murs (literally "Between the Walls") is probably the first film I've seen where all the interactions, dialogue, and situations are accurately represented.
"The Class," as it is know in English, is a French production directed by Laurent Cantet and the winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Set at a diverse inner city public high school in Paris, the story follows an academic year in French teacher François Marin's classroom. Played by novelist and actor François Bégaudeau, he is a caring but challenging teacher, who tries to be sympathetic to the tough lives of his students while, at the same time, pushing them to learn and achieve. The students, many who do not consider themselves "French" and therefore see no merit in learning the formalities of the language, often challenge him back and, as we all do, François occasionally reaches a breaking point.
What I liked about this movie, aside from the realism of classroom life, was how it shows the sometimes daily punishment for little pay many educators put up with for and from the kids they want to help. Another remarkable thing about the film is that, although it is scripted, the "students" are not trained actors and the movie feels almost more like a documentary than anything else. The faculty meetings also could not be more accurately executed.
In true "French film" style the story wanders around a bit and there are obviously subtitles so reading is required, especially with the amount of slang used by some of the characters, but the experience is worth it, in a bittersweet way.
Sergio del Limonar
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