The Class

Ably blending fact and fiction, the French drama The Class takes a real teacher and nonprofessional young actors and creates a true-to-life story. Director Laurent Cantet (Heading South) and actor/co-screenwriter Francois Begaudeau crafted the bones of the story based on Beaudeau's own novel about his experiences as a teacher. Then through workshops and improvisation with their teen actors, they chronicle life in a junior high classroom.

Begaudeau stars as Francois, a teacher in a school in a difficult part of Paris. Francois doesn't seem to be trying to have his students make intellectual leaps and bounds; instead, it's all about baby steps and just trying to survive the year with the frequently trying teens. Though there are good, hardworking members of the classroom, many of the students, especially Souleymane (Franck Keita), push Francois until he finally cracks, creating a rift in the classroom that pits him against his students.

Shot to resemble a documentary, The Class is alternately inspiring and heartbreaking. But those hoping for a French version of Dead Poets Society or Dangerous Minds will be surprised by the decidedly realistic, almost impossibly tough picture of a classroom presented here. There aren't any grand epiphanies where all the students suddenly realize the value of learning. Instead, The Class shows that even with the best of intentions, teachers sometimes can't create happy endings for all their students.