Entre Les Murs [The Class] (2008)
Entre Les Murs [The Class] (2008) 8/10
I had expected a typical film about an inspiring teacher who changes his pupils. You know, the sort of predictable plotline that films like the Choir follow. But this was quite a different experience. Filmed in a faux documentary style, the Class offers no final redemption, no inspirational teacher defying the odds. What amazes me is the realism of the film and how it offers a peek into the racially diverse world of French schools. The characters that inhabit the film are as achingly real as they are flawed. One of the best films ever made which was nominated for the 2009 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and won the Golden Palm in the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
“The Class confirms and extends Cantet’s status as one of the masters of European social cinema. It’s a hugely important film that shows how the real frontlines of class and race in this continent don’t involve riot shields or rock-hurling marchers, but are played out every day in our city schools as a series of sometimes attritional encounters.”- Sukhdev Sandhu
