School is prison. Jean Vigo really meant that. He meant that children were being suffocated under a system supposedly designed to help them. Fantastic as it may seem, Zéro de Conduite is a film still resonant today. The high angles used evoke the impression of a totalitarian eye constantly monitoring the action. But the film is really just full of those little moments: the film references (Vigo was a huge influence on the Nouvelle Vague), the antics of the rebellious students, the images that linger in your mind for long afterwards. Vigo’s filmography is full of them: L’Atalante has even more of them, and Á Propos de Nice is about them. Zéro de Conduite doesn’t just speak for students though; this is a tribute to freedom and nonconformity everywhere.