Entre les murs

Saw a fantastic movie about education in France this week: Entre les murs (english: “The class”). Not suprisingly it´s nominated for this year´s Oscar. To me, it almost felt like a documentation, although it is fiction, based on a book by François Bégaudeau, who is an author and a teacher. All the actors seem to suffer for real. The dilemmas they are caught in are multiple, their problems clearly go beyond the interpersonal level. I think I´ve seldom seen a movie where you can sense the conflicts related to systemic factors like immigration and to an outdated teaching philosophy more clearly. To me, two scenes were especially impressive: first, the teacher, played by the author himself, really tries to teach his students French, but when he gives examples, he frequently uses French names, thereby ignoring about half of his class. As one student complains, he responds something like: “If I would take into account all of your cultural backgrounds, we would never get ahead.” And second, in the end, you see teachers´ team play soccer against the students. It is a competitive setting, yet all seem to enjoy themselves, and all play by the same rules. Then – cut – the camera shows the empty class room, with its 19th century hierarchical structure, while you hear the people outside cheering and laughing. No wonder it´s so hard to have fun entre ces murs.

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