It was a very engaging thought provoking movie. Dealt with tough real situations that a teacher needs to go through as he struggles with as students from various backgrounds present their immature thoughts and perceptions uninhibitedly. The sincerity with which the teacher dealt with each of his students was very heartwarming.
I was struck by the tough situations to be dealt with in fourteen year old students' classes due apparently primarily due to the varied backgrounds that these students are coming from and their open disdain to one another complicating things even further. My own school, when played in my memories does not present even a small percentage of the problems dealt with in the movie. There were rich kids and not so rich kids in my school too but hardly any rifts , hardly any animosity towards each other , hardly any disdain towards teachers. A very mellow crowd.
The challenge that the teacher goes through and the maturity that he displays while he tackles various personal situations of the students was very eye-opening. I have always been struck by french movies by the level of introspection that the movies are lushed with. Think about Jules Et Jim - any whichever movie - loads of introspection of a certain kind.
It is an amazing presentation of a class in whole. Movies present a protagonist often , a love affair , a family drama , an epic story , a revenge , a plot and what not. This one presented a class in earnest. Beautiful. Reminds me of 'Thambu' by Aravindan - Thambu had represented a circus pretty much to the same deep extent. I would think 'Thambu' is a much better movie but it has an easier subject to deal with than this one. 'The Class' deals with any set of students - not a particular group who have huge tales behind them that the movie can present.
The movie is pretty bold as it openly talks about the racist disdains that are true, nevertheless.
It is very well directed , very well shot and I think the students/ the teachers looked extra-real too and I loved the closing shot of the empty class. It was very engaging. The movie kept me glued through the ruckus that my daughter was making and the idea star singer songs from youtube. I don't really know if I am going somewhere having watched this - whether the perceptions , the perspectives would change me - change is a big word but there has been a certain alignment within me and I sense that it is not going up in smoke as soon as I close this note.
http://www.sonyclassics.com/theclass/
