The film covers an academic year, beginning with the teachers gathering for the autumn term, introducing themselves to each other and being welcomed by the principal, an unsmiling figure wearing rimless glasses. Francois is a tough but fair teacher working in one of France';;s toughest schools, and his honest demeanor in the classroom has made him a great success with the students. But this year things are different, because when the students begin to challenge his methods Francois will find his classroom ethics put to the ultimate test.
Most impressive, Cantet tracks the racial and ethnic resentments that simmer beneath the classroom discussions but become harder to quell when the parents get involved.
Seems to question the continued effectiveness of an old teaching approach and its ability to adapt to new problems as well as modern variations of old ones.
What most critics probably aren't telling you about in their expectedly lavish praises of the film is its stereotypical and downright patronizing portrayal of race and ethnicity.
Cantet's film lulls the spectator into the rhythms of the everyday reality of school, belying a very carefully coordinated narrative structure that only becomes apparent in its final act.
You will be sporadically moved by The Class, and maybe even inspired. You will also feel overpowering despair. But mostly: You will want to hug anyone who has ever, ever been a schoolteacher.
In the tidiest pitch-speak, it's the Dardennes do Degrassi, a convincingly intimate glimpse at the epic battle waged against apathy in schools the world over.
As you watch this exhilarating back-and-forth, it dawns on you that an ethically complex, emotionally troubling plot has taken shape; and you realize, with astonishment, that Cantet waited an hour to let it emerge.
But ultimately it's a fascinating, sometimes exhilarating movie that seems to make a genuine contact with the classroom, and shows us an educational system struggling, and managing, to survive.
