MUBI

O vencedor da Palma de Ouro em Cannes 2008, acompanha o ano letivo de uma classe em uma escola de Paris. Baseado no livro do professor François Bégaudeau (que interpreta a si mesmo), o filme é uma honesta descrição da relação entre alunos e professor. Nada moralista, a produção tem o, aparentemente simples, objetivo de mostrar o “fazer docente”, seguindo de perto o cotidiano de um homem apaixonado por seu trabalho e que, mesmo com tantas dificuldades, conserva um afeto sem tamanho por seus aprendizes.

Esqueça todos os clichês do cinema hollywoodiano quanto ao tema. Mestres como Robin Williams em Sociedade dos Poetas Mortos existem apenas na ficção. François Bégaudeau é um professor de verdade: ele desafia seus alunos, erra, fraqueja, mas jamais desiste – tudo o que ele deseja, afinal, é ensinar.

Por trás das câmeras, nenhum aluno é ator de verdade. São todos alunos interpretando alunos. E isso, é uma das maiores qualidades do filme, já que tudo flui de forma muito natural. A câmera passiva de Cantet, que observa tudo em silêncio, nos faz questionar se o que vemos é mesmo uma encenação. E a linha que impede o filme de ser um documentário é muito fina, quase imperceptível.

No final das contas, para mim, Entre os Muros da Escola é o segundo melhor filme sobre educação jamais feito. Em primeiro lugar, ainda está o excepcional documentário de João Jardim, Pro Dia Nascer Feliz. Os dois diretores retratam o mesmo universo, mas em realidades diferentes: o francês, tem em mãos um professor que sofre para extrair o melhor de seus alunos; o brasileiro, mostra alunos que sofrem com a ausência de professores como François Bégaudeau.

English Title: The Class
Original Title: Entre les murs
Year: 2008
Language: French, Bambara, Spanish
Country: France
Genre: Drama
Director: Laurent Cantet
Writers:
Laurent Cantet
Robin Campillo
François Bégaudeau
Cast:
François Bégaudeau
Esmeralda Ouertani
Damien Gomes
Rachel Regulier
Wei Huang
Franck Keïta
Louise Grinberg
Eva Paradiso
Henriette Kasaruhanda
Fatoumata Kanteé
Anne Langlois
Vincent Robert
Jean-Michel Simonet
Rating: 7/10

This film has been put on my shelf for more than 2 years despite of its Golden Palm winning glory, one main reason is that its pseudo-documentary style doesn’t have any appeal to me, and the locale of a public high school in Paris does feel distanced from me. After a fervent recommendation from some close friends, it sounds like a proper moment to finally watch this high-acclaimed opus.

One thing which without a doubt deserves its fame is the extraordinarily vigorous narrative to prop a non-stop 120 minutes merely through talking (teacher vs. students, teacher vs. other teachers or parents). The camera meticulously captures every disturbing moment of the confrontation and the subsequent frustration. It seems that each round students edge over the more pathetic teacher, until the final decisive battle comes, the sacrifice could only be the students, a mordant criticism towards the plight we have (a global one).

Education is the sheer pillar to a country and even to the entire human race, while in this film the attitude it holds is biased towards the individual discrepancy of the students rather than an accessible notion of how to solve the problem, which maybe a pipe dream by now, but at least to advice or adjust the educator’s basic professional qualities of how to dwell with the myriads of untamed young rebellions.

Every job has its own unique circumstance, I cannot say teacher is the most unbearably tough one, however as to me the film tries so hard to prove that the rotten core actually is hidden among the adulthood, as a human being who takes on teacher as his/her profession, who must be trained to be aware and prepared for the upcoming task they will face, otherwise it is a way too easy job to be entitled as THE MOST HONORABLE OCCUPATION IN THE WORLD.

as the son of a high school teacher, as well as spending time as a substitute high school teacher myself, I can tell you first hand that teaching nowadays is tougher than ever. Unfortunately, that’s not often portrayed realistically on film. In 2009, there are still WAY too many movies that paint high school as this fantasy place, where everything is perfect. And if that isn’t the case, there’s these pretentious, angst-ridden movies directed by someone in their mid-20’s who had a shitty high school experience and has a skewed outlook on the world. Movies like “Chalk” and “Welcome the Dollhouse” are some of the few movies that show a realistic look at jr high and high school. Funny, Awkward and sometimes not so great. “The Class”, which won best picture at last years Cannes film festival, is shot in a cassavetes/cinema verite’ style, with a mixed cast of professional and non-professional actors. The unique aspect about “The Class” is that the movie only takes place in the school, focusing on one class, its young teacher, and the daily obstacles they face. It doesn’t have a sub-plot about the teachers personal problems outside of school, no token drug selling black student, or any other cliché’ storyline that usually come with a typical high school movie. At some points, the movie is so realistic that it feels like a documentary. Fans of John Cassavetes and Mike Leigh will love this movie.

Okay. Sebuah film. Bersetting di sebuah sekolah. Seorang guru. Satu kelas anak-anak bengal yang suka melawan. Dangerous Minds?. Freedom Writers?. Dead Poet’s Society?. The Chorus?. Bukan. Ini adalah sebuah film Perancis berjudul The Class. Sebuah film yang berhasil memenangkan titel Palm d’Or (Best Picture) di ajang 2008 Cannes Film Festival sekaligus meraih nominasi Best Foreign Language Film di 81st Academy Awards.

Diangkat dari novel semi-autobiography dari aktor François Bégaudeau berjudul sama, Entre les Murs, film ini menceritakan mengenai Francois (diperankan sendiri oleh aktor-penulis naskah, François Bégaudeau), seorang guru bahasa Perancis yang harus menghadapi sekelompok anak multirasial yang susah diatur. Jiwanya sebagai seorang guru menjadi sedikit terganggu manakala para koleganya sesama guru di sekolah tersebut mulai mempermasalahkan sikap murid-murud mereka yang dinilai terlalu membandel. Di lain pihak, Francois masih merasa kalau teman-teman gurunya hanyalah kurang mengerti terhadap sikap para murid-muridnya, dan bahwa murid-murid tersebut adalah sekelompok anak berbakat yang patut untuk diperjuangkan.

Berbeda dengan film-film bertema sama lainnya, The Class hanya bersetting di ruangan kelas tempat Francois mengajar, serta beberapa setting di ruang lain di sekolah tersebut. Tidak ada satu, dua tokoh murid dengan penggambaran yang lebih mendalam dari tokoh lainnya di film ini. Dan hal lain yang paling membedakan film ini adalah The Class berisi dialog-dialog cepat, pintar dan dapat menjadi lucu di saat yang sama. Para penonton akan merasa bahwa mereka adalah salah satu peserta di kelas tersebut dengan menonton film ini.

Karena tidak ada tokoh yang lebih menonjol di film ini, maka The Class tidaklah menawarkan suatu hal yang outstanding dalam akting para pemerannya. Walau begitu, para cast di film ini tentu saja memberi penampilan yang sangat tidak dapat dikatakan mengecewakan. Dengan tema yang mungkin sudah terlalu sering ditampilkan, sutradara Lauren Cantet berhasil memberikan suatu polesan tambahan agar film ini masih mampu menyampaikan pesannya, sekaligus menjaga para penontonnya agar tidak kehilangan ketertarikan mereka atas film ini hingga di akhir film.

Rating: 4 / 5

De la vie, de la complexité – 31/03/2009

La grande force de ce film est de nous faire entrer dans la complexité de l’école (où rien n’est aussi simple qu’on voudrait le voir de l’extérieur, avec des “y’a qu’à” ou des “faut qu’on”), et ce avec le “réalisme du reportage, la puissance émotionnelle d’un récit romanesque et l’humour d’une comédie”, comme le dit très bien Alain Spira. Un beau moment de vie, plein d’énergie, rendu dans toute sa complexité, avec toute sa palette d’émotion. Le film est très loin d’un pensum déprimant sur “la fin de l’école”, mais nous conduit à une foule de réflexion sur le rôle de l’école et de la société, sans accusations faciles. Et rien que ça, c’est un exploit !

This is a film focused on talk, on the art of conversation and its often mazy, tangential nature. It’s also completely invigorating, a classroom drama that is enlivened by its stark, unsentimental build and cracking effortlessness. François Bégaudeau, playing a version of himself as the teacher, is magnificent, and the same goes for the cast of nonprofessional young actors improvising as his students. They are all so naturalistic and ardently real you could swear you were observing real life. And you might as well be, because presented at the center of this great sociological microcosm are feelings and moral decisions as universal as can be, ethical dilemmas faced by both teachers and students in such equal measure they all seem to be sweating the very same frustration. Yet there is no miraculous redemption here, just a meticulous portrait of cultures and personalities in distress, authority and pupils alike suffering at the hands of an inherently problematic institutional system. The lives go on, even as the questions grow more uneasy.

The Palme d’Or winning film Entre les murs (The Class) couldn’t be more deserving of the award, or the chance at winning an Oscar to go along with it. Star François Bégaudeau writes a screenplay, based on his own book and experiences, about the trials and tribulations caused by the oftentimes volatile relationship between teacher and student. This is not only a great film, but also, in my opinion, a very important one. Its cinema verité style lends a documentary feel to the proceedings, inhabited by people playing characters with their own names, mostly, if not all, surely amateurs to the trade. What occurs as a result is a real life glimpse at the current state of education and children who are so much older at 14 and 15 then we remember ourselves being. It’s no longer a job to mold minds and create a world where anything is possible; now teachers must multi-task as security guard, judge, friend, educator, and whatever else might come up. With computers and absentee parents, not to mention the language barriers of a multi-racial school in France, inhabited by refugees and immigrants, these kids grow very self-sufficient and insolent in their interactions with adults. The line is so thin and the rules so skewed, The Class shows the kind of tightrope act being held accountable for a group of kids’ futures can be while getting no support, either monetarily or from parents.

What director Laurent Cantet does so well is take Bégaudeau’s tales and show the audience both sides. It isn’t always about the teacher and his difficulty reaching the children, it isn’t always a lack of support from the parents who would rather pawn their kid off on this publicly paid babysitter, but it’s also the fear and shame the kids may feel, unable to do any better because they don’t think they can. The school in which the film takes place contains people of all races and backgrounds, joined together in a bid to move on to a good vocational school. Every teacher looks at each other’s class list, telling the new ones who the troublemakers are as well as the handful of good ones. Each child has a chip on his/her shoulder as a survival trait, not necessarily because they are bad kids.

When you look at Carl, a transfer who was expelled from his previous school, you will see the intellect and maturity to viewpoints someone his age can have. To acknowledge the fact that while he may behave now doesn’t mean he’s been tamed or cured, it just means he’s found a more comfortable environment, is an interesting idea. He will hold back his temper and even try to help prevent a fight in the classroom, but he does it because he wants to. While they may understand these feelings and real world attitudes, however, they are still too young to separate those emotions and manifest them constructively. But rather than the teachers seeing this and trying to mold it, they think too much of themselves—that they have been the cure—staying on the surface and never delving deep enough to notice the problem lying latent in the background. By moving on so soon they miss the opportunity to prevent a future conflict once the sleeping giant awakes. Yet you can’t really blame them, because they have a class of some twenty personalities all clashing together. To move on from one to the next is a natural reaction, and a necessary one.

You really get a sense of duality from the film, showing how similar both sides are. So much is spoken about respect, but shouldn’t the educator respect the child as well? You are the adult, you are the one with the sense of self-control; there should be no slips of the tongue, no name calling, no matter what. I love the fact that these teachers speak with each other to decide on a punishment point scale. The pros and cons are weighed. Sure a system is needed to clearly show consequences, but the opposite view also holds true. If you tell a child they have six points until judgment, you basically give them a free pass until five points, when the kid could stop, accumulate commendations, and start all over again. It is a flawed system, and always will be, much the same with disciplinary hearings. Couldn’t you argue that having the ability to expel a child just gives you the out of not having to deal with the problem? As an educator, your job is to reach these children, give them a sense of stability, but if you can just punt the problem away, what incentive do you have to actually tackle the problem? It is such a cyclical world that people will get bounced around and never helped—teachers feeling invincible and in the right, children feeling abandoned and eventually falling deeper and deeper into the abyss of ambivalence.

Credit to all involved because it couldn’t have been easy. It would be intriguing to know how much of what the kids in the film say was scripted or not. They all really feel as though they go to school together and live in this world, everyone playing himself, essentially, except for Franck Keita as the troubled Souleyman—the key to the entire story. He is the epitome of what an intelligent child without any drive can be. To see the good, (excelling at a photo self-portrait), and the bad helps to express his humanity. With all the potential in the world finally coming through only to be pushed back when things get tough, the question of pride and nationality show face, turning on an intrinsic defense mechanism superceding the drive to better oneself. It’s not only the kids that excel, though, but also the teachers. My favorite scene is probably of one that comes into the faculty lounge utterly defeated. His rant is so on the nose and true that no one else in the room can say anything, because they all feel the same. It’s a powerful moment, trying desperately to see the point of going on in an environment that seems so hopeless.

In my opinion, the only way to rectify it all is to bring us back to the power structure of teacher and student. We have become so fearful of parents and failure and responsibility that we’ve become friends with those we are supposed to be educating. Once you build a rapport and relationship, becoming more equal than superior, you are in a world of trouble. The principal is portrayed as a weak man, unable to come to a decision, always asking the others for a majority rule. Why do his job and make a choice when he can just say the “staff agreed”? And honestly … student representatives at a staff meeting discussing grades and behavior in class? How can you ever think they won’t tell their friends everything that happened? A teacher should have the freedom to speak his mind about a student, to voice an opinion that maybe they’ve hit their ceiling and need a new angle to be taken. But once the child finds out, all sense of self-worth is gone; all sense of accomplishment out the window. If the person who is supposed to be on your side, helping you grow up, loses faith, what more is there to strive for?

Entre les murs is a heartbreaking story of the future of our planet. It shows us the smart kids mixed in with the troublemakers, to see a teacher’s time divided by both factions, never able to push the good kids to challenge them and never able to reach the “bad” ones because they need singular attention. François Bégaudeau is amazing at playing himself, the conflicted teacher that is only too human. When Louise and Esmeralda betray him, I would have acted the same way—wrongly—too. A person can only take so much before the pile gets so high, the obstacles so many, that breaking is unavoidable. However, there are those other stories of Wey beating his language barrier to excel or my favorite character Khoumba and her quest for respect. She has the gumption to write a note, so eloquently written and honest that you can’t fault her actions without reprimanding Bégaudeau. The schoolhouse dynamic has been forever changed and I for one know I could never stomach being a teacher in it. The rules have mutated and I credit those who keep at it so much more now. It’s a thankless job with little support, and its rewards are becoming fewer and fewer each year as society becomes more jaded and disenchanted.

A mi me parecio una muy buena pelicula, donde se exponen de manera los problemas de la educacion, la resistencia de los chicos a se educados,las diferencias etnicas y de pensamiento entre los mismos, la constante lucha de los profesores por hacerse entender, lo cual a veces los lleva a equivocarse e incluso a hartarse, todo narrado de forma de forma magnifica por Cantet con una camara que no abandona casi nunca las paredes de la escuela y deja esa sensacion quasi documental quue menciona emir. Ademas, lejos del tipico film del maestro que ayuda a uno de sus alumnos con sus problemas personales y lo hace salir adelante, aca en contadas veces se habla de la vida personal de los alumnos y del propio profesor, la accion se centra en el ejercicio de enseñar-aprender, sin dar un mensaje de que en terminos de la educacion todo esta perdido o no, sino dando lugar a reflexion del espectador.Quizas lo mas flojo este en el final, sin embargo creo que es uno de los mejores estrenos del año.

8/10