To Be and to Have
User Score
9.0 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 22 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 22
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 22
  3. Negative: 2 out of 22

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  1. [Anonymous]
    Jul 18, 2004
    10
    This film touched my heart. This heart-warming teacher brought back many fond memories of when I was 6 and I had a similar teacher who was like him. I have now left school but I look back at that time in my life as something really special. I am now training to be a teacher. This film inspired me a lot. Thank you Jesus Christ for the teachers who touch students lives.
  2. [Anonymous]
    Sep 28, 2003
    10
    Touching, funny and warm. A fantastic documentary.
  3. FrancineH.
    Jan 24, 2007
    10
    Warm and wonderful! It is the kind of movie that inspires and entertains. Georges Lopez is a gentle, kind, wise man with a heart for his students' successes. Lovely man and lovely film.
  4. SteveF.
    Mar 11, 2008
    10
    A feast for the eyes, mind, and heart. It is hard to imagine a better teacher, or a film better at catching the mystery of teaching.
  5. TomB.
    Feb 26, 2005
    10
    I felt a sense of longing for my childhood and the hope that one day my own children can have the same experience these children have in this film.
  6. Leigh
    Apr 10, 2005
    10
    Be patient. It starts slow, but you bond with the film to the point where you have small tears at true empathy, patients, and love . It is also a remainder how hard growing up was!
  7. SAhn
    Nov 7, 2003
    10
    A lovely movie. Sweetness and kindness abound in Lopez along with a firm determination to lead the children down the right path. He is the kind of teacher you wish you had.
  8. JoshuaD.
    Dec 8, 2003
    10
    This is pretty much a perfect film.
  9. AnnP.
    Sep 22, 2005
    10
    I a long-time teacher, and I fell in love with the entire class - students and teacher.
  10. AnnP.
    Sep 22, 2005
    10
    I a long-time teacher, and I fell in love with the entire class - students and teacher.
  11. MichaelW.
    Nov 27, 2003
    10
    This is just an amazingly beautiful and sensitive film. Its story is told with grace.
  12. joomjim4
    Jun 18, 2012
    10
    [Simple but deeply touching, Magical sense of warmth, Graceful, Emotional absorbing]
    The sense of simpliness, incnocence and truthfulness astonishingly constructs one of the most unique and incredibly heart-warming films ever created. A Remarkable Accomplishment in the World of Film.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 25 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    80
    The emotional honesty of this movie rescues it from sentimentality. To Be and to Have is about more than a dedicated teacher and his pupils; it’s about how difficult and exhilarating it is to grow into an adult.
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  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: Lisa Nesselson
    90
    Any negative stereotypes viewers might harbor about education in rural communities are sent packing by this magnificently lensed and cumulatively touching account from documaker Nicolas Philibert.
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  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    80
    Full of observed life, the movie is also a bit of a vacuum, and once we register our admiration for Lopez, we can hardly help contemplating the cold equations of the students' futures, their uneducated families, and the rapturously desolate farmland around them.
    Read full review
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