Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

pixelator2003 I am a teacher and I work in a classroom every day. I find the portrayal of class dynamics in this movie very unrealistic. It may make for a good movie and provokes the thought, but it is exaggerated. Maybe it is designed in such a way for a shock effect. However, real people, students or teachers, don't behave this way, in any neighborhood.On one hand, we have the students, who are bursting with vile, anger, frustration, and who are downright mean to the teacher, basically all the time. I don't think a class exists on this planet where the students behave in such an extreme way all the time, in every class. Of course, everything that we see in this movie has happened, and likely happens many times, in many countries, in many neighborhoods. However, the amount of it that happens in this movie, in one hour, in every lecture, is not realistic. In a real setting, the teacher would simply not be able to take it. Nobody can take such constant interruptions, the constant lewd comments, the downright hostility to the teacher, even physical threats, and stay composed and serious and positive like the teacher in this movie. At some point, the teacher calls the students "skunks". This is after the two students that sat on the committee (and acted inappropriately the entire time, by interrupting, making noise, etc) totally told the rest of the class about these presumably private discussions among the faculty members. Yet, the students are never reprimanded for this. How is this not in itself seen as a serious infraction, when clearly faculty discussions are confidential when evaluating students, comparing them to each other, and discussing whether someone should be expelled?Even worse, the two students lied to Suleyman, claiming that the teacher tried to diss him at the meeting, when in reality, he tried saving him (and other teachers tried to expel him). It makes no sense.. why are the two students so mean, so insensitive, that they even lie to their own classmate about what the teacher actually said or tried to do.Teacher's reaction makes no sense either. Every real teacher would point out to the private nature of the conversations at the meeting. Every real teacher, when sensed that Suleyman is being misled by his peers, would point out that he tried saving him. But not this teacher. Even more strangely, the one word "skunk" that this teacher uttered (and even that one in a mild context), is taken by the students as some crown proof of teacher abuse -- after they themselves have been 100x more abusive. And it even flies with the other teachers, with the headmaster, and they get our teacher into trouble. Sorry.. real schools, real people don't work and behave in this way.On the other hand, we have the nearly perfect assembly of teachers, who are somehow able to take all of this constant abuse and still act perfectly reasonable. They are having their perfect conversations, like a group of perfect academics, about what to do with the students. I don't think real people, real teachers behave like that. In such a hostile environment, real teachers either quit, or become jaded, or they stop caring. But they don't take such enormous amounts of abuse in daily, and still continue with such perfect dialogs, analysis, and intentions. So for me, both the students and teachers in this movie are mis-represented. The students are too evil, and the teachers are too perfect.

NaDurden Keep in mind that I'm a teenage student myself and one reason why I like this movie is because of its great authenticity. I really feel like I'm also a part of that class, you can hear each student express his opinion in the background. You almost want to ask for silence yourself. And this movie even let me sympathize with teachers, only because of that fact it deserves the Golden Palm. You understand each character's motivation. One might even find themselves in one of the protagonists. It's packed with so much energy and passion and there's also a profound meta level with recurring themes such as poverty, racism and injustice, and yet you never actually leave the classroom walls you're in between the students' and teachers' problems, always "entre les murs".

anneeholden You find yourself in a room. It is a bland, generic classroom, filled with rowdy French school kids. What an ordeal! Surprisingly, this movie is acclaimed as a great French movie, winning a Palme d'Or, which is one of a movie's highest honors. If you want to watch a movie which is slow moving and reminds you of everything you hate most about school, this movie is perfect! Entre les Murs is a dramatic movie, which was considered quite masterful at the French film festival in Cannes. Directed by Laurent Cantet, this movie won a Palme d'Or. Originally, Entre les Murs was a book written by François Bégaudeau, who is the lead actor in the movie, playing Mr. Marin. Eventually, the book was turned into a movie in 2008. The story is about a conflict between a determined French teacher with four years of experience and his students, who cause trouble in his class, and are determined not to learn. The movie is set in a small middle school on the outskirts of Paris, where the children are all too eager to avoid learning of any kind. Although they respect the school's principal, this diverse group of troubled kids disrespect the teachers on a daily basis, until it gets to the point where it is nearly impossible to control. During the movie, the viewer witnesses parent –teacher meetings, heated arguments between teachers and students, recess, and teacher conferences. The teacher of "the class" is a man named Mr. Marin, who initially appears to demand respect, and uses discipline to set a limit. Later, however, he completely loses control of an already dangerous group of students, and when things get hairy, Mr. Marin finds that even his reputation may be damaged. He is also brought to a rude awakening with the fact that teacher-student interactions are never one way. The beginning of this movie is slow, and never seems to speed up. As it is so eloquently put in the British TV series Doctor Who, "Is this how time normally passes? Really slowly. In the right order." This definitely would describe how it feels to watch Entre les Murs, since it so realistically portrays a classroom that it literally feels like you are being forced to go learn in French class with a strict teacher. As it sounds, it is not very enjoyable. To me, one of the main ideas of this movie is discipline, and the consequences of disciplining somebody. When any of the students in the movie are disrespectful, as they often were, they would be disciplined in regard to their misbehavior. Throughout the school year, however, this seemed to cause worse problems than forgiveness or a nicer punishment would. It seems that in order to be able to punish the students, the teachers must first develop a respectful relationship with them which does not involve friendship or fear, just understanding. In Entre les Murs, this is perhaps the hardest thing for the teachers to master, which is very different from my high school, where all of the teachers understand their students' views. Although they know the content, they don't care in the slightest about any of their students. Sure, they care about their grades, but they do not inquire into their personal life at all, nor do they look into alternate ways of improving these grades other than punishment. Mr. Marin is a relatively new teacher at this middle school, and sheds light on what may be the answer to this problem. I would only recommend this movie to people who can handle the whining complaints of others, or people who would understand the deeper meaning. If someone doesn't understand any deeper meaning in this movie, it is rather dull to watch, with no definite climax or resolution. Although I'm sure the book was much better than the movie, the movie does portray one thing which is pretty accurate: It uses the real students as its actors. The students whine a lot in the movie, so obviously someone must be pretty patient to even deal with actors such as these. Overall, I liked this movie, though I wouldn't watch it again. The character's personalities came through, and you could definitely tell how annoying they must've been in class. If I were to watch this movie on my own, I probably would've seen how slow it was, and switched to a different one. But, as it is, I was in my own French class watching this, so I could report back to you. I honestly don't know why this movie earned a Palme d'Or. Even though it was semi-interesting, it did not strike me as the best movie I have ever watched, and I think it would do better as a documentary. After all, movies are meant to entertain! However, this movie did show us American kids how schools are in France, and I liked that. Also, I can relate to this movie, as some of the characters look a lot like some kids I go to school with. Watch this movie if you have a lot of time and patience, but otherwise, I wouldn't bother with it.

Josue (joszue) The movie portraits an interracial class in a Paris town. The plot is simple. It will cover some conflicts developed in the last term of a primary school year. It's mainly focused on the relation of the class and a Language professor who seems to be the most concerned about the class of all the other teachers at school. We see a little bit of the relationships between the teachers and how they solve conflict with the students. The class has pretty colorful characters from France, Asia, and Africa mainly. If you are a teacher, you will have a lot of material to discuss about. And will enjoy how the student's stories are unveiled.