This is the fifth in a series of stories from the 2008 Starz Denver Film Festival, where 215 films are being shown from November 13-23. This film had two sold-out screenings, on November 16 and 18, at the Starz Film Center on the Auraria campus.
Enroll in The Class and get a real education. It comes with a valuable French lesson (subtitles included) for next to nothing.
This French film, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May and is in contention for the Denver Film Festival’s Krzysztof Kieslowski Award, might initially seem like something you’ve seen a million times before.
A courageous, dedicated educator takes on a group of misfit students and turns them into geniuses just in time for graduation. Blackboard Jungle, To Sir, With Love and Dangerous Minds all covered similar ground, bringing us into a classroom setting where the kids ruled until an insightful mentor (Glenn Ford, Sidney Poitier, Michelle Pfeiffer) taught them life’s valuable lessons. But that's so passé, so old-school, like Mr. Kotter and the Sweathogs.
Based on the book Entre les murs (Between the Walls) by a real-life teacher who happens to play a version of himself, The Class and director Laurent Cantet examine a sometimes rebellious group of 13- to-15-year-old junior high students during the course of a school year in a part of Paris you don't often see in the travel guides.
School dances and bonfires aren’t the norm here. Some of these troubled teens try to deal with adolescent insecurities, peer pressure, and culture clashes in a racially mixed, class-conscious society where "Viva La France" is a way of life. But there’s more to The Class’ seemingly simple story. What makes this realistic collaboration seem so true-to-life is the use of non-actors – both as students and teachers – in an improvisational manner that’s smart, compelling, and enlightening. You’re never too old to learn something new.
Article comments
1 - carmen
I give you and this movie a mile high five. A must see.