“The Class” (2008)

A Palme d’Or winner at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, on a surface level “The Class” sounds like yet another variation on “To Sir, With Love” cliches.  While it does feature a charismatic teacher who struggles to effectively communicate with his students, and while at one point, like Sidney Poitier did to Lulu, he calls a couple of them “sluts”, the comparison is not that useful.  Employing a hand held camera technique that stops short of being annoying, and getting amazingly naturalistic performances out of a young cast, director Laurent Cantet delivers the most convincing and compelling reflection on the interpersonal politics of secondary school that I can think of.  Racial, class and generational tensions are played out without need for any big thematic statement or anything other than a open ending.