Review of The Class (2008) by Ripö M — 04 Jan 2010

I really shouldn't be surprised that a movie rated so highly is actually excellent, that the hype around this at the Cannes Film festival was justified but I was astonished by this film.

Firstly I would go further than other critics that say this film has a documentary style, it doesn't as that implies the students would be aware of the cameras and act differently.

The Class is 100% authentic to the way I remember children of that age and my experiences as a 13/14 year old.

I felt one of the biggest strengths of this movie was how they got the interaction between the students and the teacher to be so accurate and how generally The Class wasn't a french Version of Freedom Writers or Dangerous Minds.

I loved the feel of the film, certainly at first I was a bit unnerved by the lack of a defined plot or running narrative. But actually this film proves that you actually can make a very basic movie an excellent movie.

In reference to the characters obviously the star of the show is Francois Begaudeau (who actually also co wrote The Class) but essentially the film is a success due to his interactions with the students and how very subtlety they learned from each other.

One point that has to be made when talking about this movie is that alongside all the other previous characteristics that I have praised earlier in this review, The Class is a brave movie as it portrays and comments on (albeit only briefly directly) the melting pot that is contemporary France.

In summary this is not only the best french film Ive ever seen I do also view this as a modern classic as well as an important movie.

The Class has shown that clever cinema on a small budget still has a place alongside the Avatars and GI Joes of this world, it is simply 5 stars.