So if you can't deal with the hard reality of inner city classrooms today find yourself some fluff. But this film is outstanding, gets it totally right, and has some unbelievable performances. It's hard to believe anyone is acting.

After "Time Out" and "Human Resources," my hopes for this film were extremely high. Cantet surpassed them briliantly. This is probably going to knock "Wall-E" off the top of my personal top 10 list - it's bloody indispensible.

Quite simply the best class room movie I've ever been privilaged enough to see. The movie takes it's time and breathes fresh life into the tough classroom genre. Except in this one the teacher is every bit as tough as his tough-as-mails students. Not to give anything away an oh-so-valid crisis develops and it's more than worth the wait. Must say, I was sad when the screen cut to black; even though the end was pitch perfect.… Expand

I don't see how anyone could find this film boring. If nothing else, there's the constant question, "How well is the teacher handling the situation?"

This film is riveting. Period. Forgive me for what will sound like an incredibly arrogant and pedantic comment, but every negative review I've read of this film decries its lack of realism in that these students are not violent enough to be convincing Parisian "hoodrats," so there's no reason to care. But that is a conclusion borne of a deeply America-centric lack of understanding of the subject material here. Firstly, a quick Google search of French (or all of Europe, for that matter) crime statistics will show that the "Lean on Me" vintage of gun-toting, crack-selling inner-city students is an almost uniquely American phenomenon. The "hard-knock life" is a subjective thing, and it's worse here in the US because, overall, crime ITSELF is worse here in the US than Europe--and, for the most part, the world. Secondly, and more importantly, one needs to take into account the extraordinary difficulties with racial tensions France is having today. France is, both historically and currently, a country rife with racism that hasn't yet figured out how to deal with the incessant tidal wave of "invaders" from its colonies, who "threaten" to upset the very "Frenchness" at the heart of the French. And on top of that, there is little acknowledgment of the racial tensions within the country--this is why there has been wave after wave of race riots in African and Arab neighborhoods in Paris over the past ten years. It is precisely these issues--usually subtextually, but occasionally in boldface--that this film deals with. These are children who are angry, lost and confused--not because they are thrust into a life of crime and killing by abject poverty and/or absent parents, but because they are thrust into a country where they are commanded to adopt an identity--to be "French"--they not only don't want, but haven't been given an opportunity to understand.… Expand

This was truly an amazing film. Incredibly rewarding and challenging, it leaves a lot to think about after the credits roll.

Interesting to compare and contrast the inner city issues within Paris schools with movies about the same issues in the US, Morrocans and Malis instead of Mexicans and Vietnamese.

Quietly brilliant.

A great movie that offers a genuinely realist picture of a classroom. The film deals with contemporary issues of French politics but the issues are also prevalent to the rest of the world, dealing with immigrants, language, and how people react to one another. I found the film funny, exhilirating, thoughtful, touching, and all in all a great night out at the movies.

Deserving to grab the Academy Award statuette for this year. It's a long waited film that would serve those involved with the education of children here and abroad. The film has a great cast, offering very credible moods and emotions that would remain very memorable for years to come. Very well crafted film that would truly touch the hearts of those who care about kids. I've also seen Waltz with Bashir and strongly view that The Class strikes as a far better and memorable story for the audience. Waltz with Bashir can only boast about its stylistic animated creativity, but as a story, it is lacking in emotional thrust. Perhaps, the fault lies with the animated works that allow Waltz with Bashir coming off as fictional fantasy and takes rather than being based on documented facts. Three cheers to The Class.… Expand

It's hard for me to imagine a story so heavily anchored in the mundane that kept me so heavily anchored to my seat. I've watched this film about 4 times so far, and have yet to grow bored of it. The teacher, who has a predetermined curriculum to impart, is constantly being derailed by the dialectic that these students seem to prefer much more. In so doing, they seem to arrive at a middle ground between what society has determined is important for these kids to learn, and what actually IS relevant to them in their lives and experiences, not unlike a dialogue between interlocuters and Socrates, to whom they later even pay tribute with a mention of Plato's 'Republic'. Along the way, you observe the blindness and shortcomings of institutions as well as the obstinant perpetuance of the disenfranchised. Somewhere between the need for social harmony and the need for change, between the theoretical and the practical, and between aspirations and reality, you are educated at the crossroads through which all these intersect "between the walls" of 'The Class'.… Expand