The Class: An Incredible Feature That Resembles A Documentary review
Seeing a Grand Prize winner of Cannes at a late night screening after four other feature films can be demanding on a viewer. Surprisingly a few minutes into the film, I was rejuvenated and alert. Good cinema does that to me. Here was a "documentary" clearly enacted, in someways like Oliver Stone's "JFK". In "JFK", one had professional actors. Here was a film with a script played by young teenage non-actors. It was the first screening of the film in India. It might not be a film for all and sundry. I saw many walk out of the screening. I guess many wanted to catch 40 winks.
The film is demanding. To a casual filmgoer it would resemble a live recording of a high school class with a teacher probing the minds of his students, made up of different backgrounds, races, religions and representing continents. There are tense moments, hilarious repartees, behind the scene meetings of teachers evaluating students, parent teacher meetings and even stocktaking of a year gone by in the school. The film's content can disappoint some viewers looking for conventional action, sex or heavy intrigue.
Yet the film is packed with psychological, social and ethical issues. How this has been captured on film is just incredible. There is not a fleeting second in the film when you feel the film is acted out by the students and the teacher(s). It all seems so spontaneous and easy, when it is quite the opposite.
This is a film from which Indian filmmakers can take so many lessons in filmmaking. Unfortunately the IIFK had only one screening of this film. Lovely films could be generated in India using the same idea-the only difference how many Indian teachers allow for two way communication in a class?
This is a sensitive film meant for mature films. The two final shots, somewhat similar, of the film visually underline the case of the film that you had seen. It deserved the Golden Palm.
