'The Class': inspirational teacher, difficult students, no cliche

Hollywood often tries to depict the struggle between teachers who care and kids who don’t. Films such as the Michelle Pfeiffer vehicle “Dangerous Minds” and the Hillary Swank-starring “Freedom Writers” come to mind. As much as these films strived to convert viewers into Teach For America (TFA) applicants, though, the interactions within the classrooms always seemed awkwardly scripted.

Teen dialogue written by middle-aged screenwriters can be painfully awkward, and in both films unconventional “teaching/bonding tactics” abound. Recall Pfeiffer’s preposterous Dylan-Dylan contest, in which virtually illiterate inner-city adolescents find salvation in the lines of Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan. Or, if you’re a Karate Kid fan, you might prefer Swank’s “line game,” in which students are asked to step up to the line to admit their involvement in gang violence and teen shootings.

As much as I enjoyed “Dangerous Minds” and its awesome Coolio theme song (I didn’t care for “Freedom Writers” — stick to boxing, Hil), it was just not believable, which is ironic since the movies were semi-biopics of real super-teachers. If you’re not in the mood for feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside, you should probably steer clear of both films. They offer cheap, canned emotion instead of any thought-provoking investigation of America’s crumbling public education system.

When I walked into Princeton Garden Theatre to watch the new French film “The Class,” I wasn’t in a particularly fuzzy mood. Fortunately, the formulaic narrative of other teacher-delinquent flicks was nowhere to be found. The protagonist is the 30-something Francois Marin, a French teacher at an underfunded and ethnically diverse Parisian middle school.

Played by Francois Begaudeau, who wrote the book and screenplay, Marin is a strict teacher, though he’s certainly no Meryl Streep. His attempts at disciplining his students are inevitably met by questions and whining, and the eighth graders’ “Why do we have to do that?”s and “I’m not doing that”s are right on. It’s no surprise the students’ characters were developed over a year of workshops and improvisations, because the strong performances and hand-held camerawork can make the movie feel like a documentary at times.

The plot focuses on a group of angsty teens determined to defeat their teacher in his struggle to keep order in the classroom. Other teachers in the school are not as successful at maintaining control and perspective as Marin. In one scene, a cherubic young physical education teacher storms into the faculty lounge, breaking up a serious discussion about the rise in coffee machine prices, and delivers a monologue on how hopeless it is to teach these kids. His tirade is enough to shatter the hopes of TFA post-grads everywhere.

While ethnic diversity plays a major role in classroom dynamics, the students — Wei, the illegal Chinese immigrant who is polite and eager to learn; Esmeralda, the annoying North African loud-mouth; and Souleymane, the uncooperative back-row occupier from the Ivory Coast — are standard eighth-grade-class personalities; the characters are not stereotyped by skin color.

The first half of the film focuses on classroom interactions, some of which are quite humorous, such as an argument in which Marin concedes that only snobs use a certain complex verb structure. Forgive me: I don’t speak French, so I don’t recall what tense it was … Pluperfect subjunctive? Something like that.

There are also the inevitable hormonal eruptions and temper tantrums. Marin does not resort to shouting to regain order in these instances. Instead, he puts the spotlight on the troublemaker, whose misbehavior is always motivated by the desire for attention, and jabs at their intelligence until they are so embarrassed that they sit down and shut up. His insults can stray toward the inappropriate, especially toward the end of the film as he grows increasingly frustrated. In the process, viewers are forced to confront the difficult realities of teaching — is Marin really behaving badly, or is this simply the only way for him to communicate?

The second half of the film shifts its emphasis to the disciplinary hearing of Souleymane, who has repeatedly caused trouble. Marin raises the ethical question of whether his expulsion might cause more harm than good, as in Souleymane’s case, his parents might decide to send him back to their tribe in Africa rather than let him attend another school in Paris.

The troubling nature of Souleymane’s problems is just one of many thought-provoking issues raised by “The Class.” The film is the complete package: moral dilemmas, smart humor, subtiltes and a hot French teacher.