The Class (2008)

Original Title: entre les murs
Director: Laurent Catet
Writer: Scenario: Laurent Catet, Robin Campillo, François Bégaudeau Inspired by Novel: François Bégaudeau
Cast: François Bégaudeau
Genre: Drama

Originally titled Entre Les Murs, The Class is a dive into a school class in ethnically diverse Parisian neighborhood of France. I'll give it this. The Class gives us a glimpse into the diversities of a rough French neighborhood in a way reminding me of how The Lives of Others did about Stasi East-Germany.

However, the later told a story within its descriptions, while The Class works more like a documentary. I don't mind documentaries, but I do when they hide as an ordinary drama movie. We follow a year of this class, but we never get really close on them. Most of us have lived within a classroom. We know how it works, the society within the society. There's always leaders, there's silent followers and so on and so forth. In The Class most of the students roles within the room stays hidden. It takes away a lot of the movies credibility.

It also covers nine months of school, but it's impossible to know how much time has passed of the year at any given time. It makes it impossible to take in the changes in the context of time passed since different situations. Added with the lack of a story to tell and the lack of hierarchy presented, I can't really praise it like so many others have. Keep in mind this was nominated for Oscar for 'Best Foreign Movie' and it won the 'Golden Palm' at Cannes Film Festival.

Being realistic, having good acting and painting a picture of some of the younger French's problems, doesn't manage to make me forget about its problems. It certainly didn't help being French. Of course reading sub-texts kill some of the experience, but my main objections was elsewhere.