Entre les murs


Laurent Cantet (2008).

This claustrophobic classroom is full of tensions between a teacher and his students and among students. But they are only visible tensions. Other teachers come into play and the seemingly fair and prudent principal keeps invisible tension to the end of the film. There are neither evils nor angels. Every teacher tries to keep their feet on an acrobat string suspended several feet above a dangerously dormant war, which stems from a long history of political disfranchisement and colonial-minded purposeful alienation.

A documentary-like taste of this film is not just coming from the fact that multiple cameras were used to shoot the classroom. None of the actors are actually professionals. Students' actions are so spontaneous that I tend to forget it was specially staged. So immersed in the film, I painfully read an uncompromising distance between François (the teacher) and his students. I believe he is rather a good teacher although not ideal. He has to endure anger and frustration while approaching individual students patiently. He knows Souleymane's problem was trivial in the beginning, but he is not a hero after all. He, as a victim of the school system, needs to save himself as well. Students playing major roles also show different aspects at different moments. Each kid lives in complexity their life environment brings to them. Seeing the diverse personalities in each character is another charm of this film.

When Esmeralda talks about Socrates in the end of the film, François smiles at her. Certain tension penetrating throughout the film dissolves at that moment. At the same time, certain authority that François possessed lapses away, I feel.

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