The film, "Entre les murs", and my own class experience are very similar to one another. Overall, in my opinion, the movie was boring. It was as if being in class myself. In the film, the french teacher teaches, the students listen or pretend to listen, and questions are asked/answered. Which is what commonly happens in a classroom. Unlike the teacher films seen in America. The teacher is not portrayed as some sort of hero who must save his students. It was very realistic. This being said, the main plot in the movie was not interesting. This is because, as a student I am familiar with students disrespecting the teachers and other classmates, and then teachers along with parents taking action over the matter. This happens very often, and the results are usually the same in every case. It could have been more interesting if the teacher teaches Karate instead of vocabulary during class, to get the attention and respect of his students.
Also seeing the different races in the classroom (asian, black, etc.) reminds me of my own class. In my school students usually come together with students of the same race, and therefore do what they are expected to do culturally. For example, if black, dress in that gangster look and if Asian, obtain good marks in mathematics. Despite the french culture, I had the impression that most students are greatly influenced by the American culture. It is reflected on their clothes, style and behavior. This caused me to relate even more to the students in the film.
I do not know about the personal life of the teachers in my school, but I do know that they might feel stressed when dealing with troublesome students, like Souleymane. As a teacher, it must be difficult to gain that special respect they think they must have from the students. The teacher in the film wanted that respect but he did not succeed. Perhaps he was not being very creative by sticking with the program (Tell children to always raise their hands before talking, remain quiet in class, ask interesting questions, send bad behaving students to the principal, etc.). The students at that age know very well what must be done in the classroom. They know what is right and wrong but they just do not care. For example, they learn...
"Respect; the adolescents learn gradually to respect their teachers because of their threats or for the fear of causing problems. To begin I respect him, and the respect should then be mutual... I must say this or the teacher will get hysterical. I respected him, and it is for that that I don't understand why I have to say that. I know that he has nothing against me, but I don't know the reason. I decided to sit quietly in this room to avoid more conflicts, unless I am provoked. I admit I can be insolent, but only when they provoke me. I will look at him again, so that he could see that my glance in not insolent. Usually in class of french, we should speak about French, and not about our grandmother, or sister, or girl's period. And it is for that that from now on, I will not speak to you again."
-Khoumba
In the film this would be the only glance to one of the student's personal life. Nothing happened outside of the school territory. And therefore, there was no need to show personal life, for always considering school as a place where we should be on guard.
Similar to my class, the students read the Diary of Anne Frank along with the teacher. They ask questions about the reading and vocabulary and the teacher explains. There are also class discussions about some of the student's experiences, such as examples any type of embarrassment. Some times most students participate and get very involved in the lesson and sometimes they are caught barely awake. There are side conversations, and some times students disrespect the teacher. I must say however, that in the film I saw something I have not seen in my own experience of SOF. Although the teacher was taking the "right measurements" to punish the bad behaving students, I had the impression he felt sorry for doing so. He did not want to be in bad term with his students and he did not want his students to feel trapped in any way. Often he pushed students to participate or to present their work, just to put them out there. And that does not happen in my class. If I do not want to participate, I will not participate and the teacher will not even try to encourage me to do so. They simply give up, just as I did.
The end of this film was similar to the end of every of my years of high school. Nothing special happened.
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