those who can't, teach.
a terrible cliche indeed, but this film sets up to overturn that.
Entre les Murs (The Class)
let's just say this isn't your run-of-the-mill romantsized version of the teaching profession. in fact, it does quite the opposite in its prosaic, documentary-styled representation of a year in the life of a typical middle school teacher and in what seems like improv dialogue (albeit dubbed, so some of its gritty reality is lost in translation and tonal expression). this classroom genre of film removes the 'captain-oh-my-captain' sentimentality of its predecessors and instead presents a teacher brought down to his humanity and forced to confront his imperfections in a humbling incident in front of his students, which i'm sure every teacher can attest to have encountered at some point of his career.
what i went away with was:
a) thank god i don't teach in an international school
b) the teaching vocation is universally rewarding and painful
well, not to give too much away, do watch it, dear colleagues, because you will appreciate your students more! and for everyone who is or has been a student at one point or another, you will realise how little you probably learned in class as compared to being in class -- the unexpected twists in your interpersonal exchanges with teacher and classmates, the self-discovery of personal identities and most importantly, the acknowledgement of your bigger role beyond graduation which is honed from those formative years from 13-18.
haha i wax lyrical only because this film doesn't at all. it's 2hrs of saying nothing but so much. au contraire, the teacher at some point or another, will always have to learn, in his silence.
Entre les Murs (The Class)
let's just say this isn't your run-of-the-mill romantsized version of the teaching profession. in fact, it does quite the opposite in its prosaic, documentary-styled representation of a year in the life of a typical middle school teacher and in what seems like improv dialogue (albeit dubbed, so some of its gritty reality is lost in translation and tonal expression). this classroom genre of film removes the 'captain-oh-my-captain' sentimentality of its predecessors and instead presents a teacher brought down to his humanity and forced to confront his imperfections in a humbling incident in front of his students, which i'm sure every teacher can attest to have encountered at some point of his career.
what i went away with was:
a) thank god i don't teach in an international school
b) the teaching vocation is universally rewarding and painful
well, not to give too much away, do watch it, dear colleagues, because you will appreciate your students more! and for everyone who is or has been a student at one point or another, you will realise how little you probably learned in class as compared to being in class -- the unexpected twists in your interpersonal exchanges with teacher and classmates, the self-discovery of personal identities and most importantly, the acknowledgement of your bigger role beyond graduation which is honed from those formative years from 13-18.
haha i wax lyrical only because this film doesn't at all. it's 2hrs of saying nothing but so much. au contraire, the teacher at some point or another, will always have to learn, in his silence.