The Class (Entre les murs)(2008)
dir. Laurent Cantet
A classroom where nobody gets to be the hero.
Where to watch: Rent on Apple TV, Amazon, FandangoLetterboxd ↗
A year in a Paris middle school classroom, led by a teacher who is trying to reach a group of fourteen-year-olds from every corner of the old French empire. Based on François Bégaudeau's memoir, with Bégaudeau playing the teacher and real students in the cast, it feels like a documentary, with arguments about grammar, respect and who gets to speak. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2008.
Why it’s here
The film refuses to give the teacher a heroic arc. What's punk is that it lets good intentions fail in front of you and lets the students talk back as people. What's pedagogical is the structure: the classroom is a place where power, language and fairness get argued out loud, and a single word can turn a day. It is the right film for anyone who has ever stood at the front of a room, and it makes a fine companion for anything on the radical pedagogy shelf.
Where This Film Lives
- Setting
- France
Read Alongside
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