The Class
The Class stars Francois Begaudeau as teacher Francois Marin the lead character from his 2006 autobiographical novel of the same name. Looking like an authentic documentary we spend a year in his classroom of tough Parisian fourteen year old kids of diverse ethnic background and already expressing their own individuality. While some of his fellow faculty are despondent with the daily grind of mouthy attitude Marin deals with the adversity heroically – turning it inward on itself and using it as a tool to inspire learning. The Class is a riveting To Sir With Love for the new millennium with race roles reversed with not all endings happy. All of the kids portraying themselves are terrific as is Begaudeau in a screenplay that he also wrote and which won the Palm D’Or at Canne France in 2008, ironically the first French film to do so in 21 years.