focus_on

Directed by Laurent Cantet, this François Bégaudeau semi-
autobiographical tour de force tells the story of François Martin,
teaching in a inner-city middle school in Paris, a microcosm of
the conflicting cultures and attitudes in contemporary France.
François Bégaudeau stars in "The Class".

Cantet filmed The Class (http://www.sonyclassics.com/theclass/) in a faux documentary style,
using multiple improvised shots of real students and real teachers in a multi-ethnic French
class in urban Paris. Shot almost entirely in a single classroom, much of the film chronicles
François' verbal confrontations with his French, African, Caribbean, Moroccan, Turkish, and
Asian students. While he may not be a perfect teacher, François is effective in his pedagogic
methods, much like Sidney Poitier's Mark Thackeray character in To Sir With Love. (The films
have much in common.) In one pivotal scene, he uses the word "pétasse" to describe two of
his street-savvy female students (which translates as "skank"), which prompts a classmate,
Soulaymane (Franck Keita), to defend them at the risk of being expelled and sent back to
Mali. In another pivotal scene, one student tells François at the end of the school year that
she has learned nothing and has understood nothing in his class. The Class is a brilliant film,
and yet another example of why French cinema surpasses Hollywood these days. A thought-
provoking characterization of diverse ethnic 21st-century Paris. Highly recommended.
(FROM AMAZON; EDITED BY KEITH CALANDRA)