Movie to watch!...'The Class'

The idealistic young teacher reaching out to a troubled class of underprivileged kids - it should be the dullest movie cliche imaginable. Yet French director Laurent Cantet does something miraculous with it in this fresh piece of humanist, realist, optimist cinema, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year.

The teacher is François Marin, a slim, boyish thirtysomething teacher of French language and literature. We are to encounter him in the classroom, the staff-room and in the schoolyard, but never at home. We never find out about his home life or his personal life. His sole moment of privacy is glimpsed at the very beginning of the film: having a cup of coffee before gearing himself up for the fray.

My favourite scene in the movie is at the end when the students are sitting in the class ready to break for summer term. The teacher is asking each of them what they learnt that year. One student says 'volcanoes' another 'combustion' and another 'reproduction'. Finally the camera settles on the trouble-maker of the class. A spotty faced-teen with braces in her teeth who the teacher had previously called a 'slut':

''I didn't learn anything' she says apologetically

'You can't spend nine months at school and not learn anything' says the teacher

'Well I'm the living proof' she replies

'You must have got something from the books you read in class?'

'Your books are shit' she replies

'What about a book you read yourself?'

'The books I read myself?...well there's The Republic. The book The Republic' she says

[The teacher stares at her not quite believing she read The Republic]

'By Plato?' he asks

[She nods her head]

'You read that?'

'Yes' she replies

'How come?' he asks (remember these are underprivileged school-kids from immigrant backgrounds)

'My big sister had it'

'She does philosophy?'

'No, law'

'So what's it about?'

'Well there's this guy. His names Socrates. He stops people in the street and he asks them, "Are you sure of thinking what you think? Are you sure of doing what you do?"

'What does he talk about?' the teacher asks

'Everything. Love, religion, God, people, everything'

'It's good you read it'

'I know. It's not a slut's book!'...

The sheer lucid force of The Class is compelling and exhilarating. Cantet's final tableau shots of the empty classroom, like a deserted battlefield, made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. There are very few films that can claim to make their audiences into happier and smarter people. I think this is definitely one. Highly recommended!

[Trailer]

Weird Adventures in Natural History

[Addendum]

And why, you are no doubt wondering, does the female eat the male in the first place? For a good meal that's why! It seems that once the male has made his contribution to the relationship; in this case his contribution being his sperm, it seems that there is no further use for his services so he is, er promptly eaten. Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'dominant relationship' if you ask me.

A Slice of Me

I was born to be a scribbler, scribe, pen-magician, blogger - call it what you will. I can write about (almost) anything whatsoever. One nostril on earth and the other sniffing out scents in a galaxy far far away. The canopy I sleep under has a dome whose diameter far exceedeth that of ordinary sniffing mortals. Wonder - that's what lies at the heart of me. Like that glowing thingy in the chest of Iron-Man - my kernal is Wonder. I was looking at myself in the mirror the other day (not because of vanity mind you) peering into those dark eyes...they say the eyes don't lie. What do mine say? I stared deep into their Liquid Crystal Display trying to read them, to get lost in them, to loose myself in a bewildering forest of prickly thorns and beaming flowers. Did they reveal my soul? Are my secrets that I hold so dear, my visions that I see sometimes, my inadequacies that I stow away - are they revealed through my eyes? I looked but couldn't recognise the man staring back. Who is he? And like a familiar word; that through prolonged staring looses its familiarity, the man in the mirror morphed into a stranger...the reality of things is revealed through the lens through which we see.

There is a little game you can play to mimic a change of lens. Close your eyes for five minutes and shut away your thoughts. Stow away your memories. Plug your ears. Block your nose. Relax your muscles till there is nothing left but the cold blackness of nothingness. Journey back to the moment before your birth...and then slowly, carefully...open your eyes, and look out of the box in which you've arrived - and view the scene as if you've woken up fresh into the world. It's like a tonic! I play this game often. In fact I played it on the bus yesterday and it gave me a horrid shock. A big burly fat man had seated himself next to me...and the shock of it, the shock of seeing this tubby tub of lard, inspired me to write a little diatribe:

fat man, fat man, on the bus
wheezing - wheezing, on the huff
skinny me, skinny me, next to he
squishy - squashy - wishing death to thee

Now, notwithstanding the puerile nature of this ditty, what strikes me most is its wish for death to reign down and strike this fat man. Can I use the word fat? Anyway, so I was wishing death on someone I barely knew. It's the lens effect you see. Well inspiration must gush from somewhere I suppose - even if it is the asshole of vainglory.

So give me a topic and I'll scrape you a few morsels from my soul. Give me a subject and I'll dredge the seas of Aldoran. Give me love and you'll never see me again. Give me a moment and I'll show you eternity.

A visiting vagabond amongst the human race. That's me. Not here to stay. But to Wonder.

_____

Go Girl Power! / Afghani Elections

Oppression is the bastard of human nightmares - My heart glows with mirth amidst such scenes - Ignorance and bigotry stifle the voice of many - The bearded ones I scorn the most - Flimsy is their stock of reason - wealthy their store of guilt - hidden under their Khlashnikovs - I hope for hope - for there is nothing in the ruins - but pieces - Do you care world? - Are people selfish? - All hypocrites

Coming soon...Unweaving the rainbow

aDoseOfPhilosophy - on death & dysentery

aDoseOfPhilosophy - on reading

Where do thoughts exist?