It all starts today

Directed by Bertrand Tavernier ('Round Midnight). A teacher struggles to make a difference in the lives of his students. Very typically French, in some respects: the characters talk ceaselessly, there is a lot of cheek kissing. In telling the story of a pre-school director, the film shows a slice of French life which is not shown by all the cooking shows that extoll Gallic life. Many of the students in the school are from poor families; one, a cute girl whom the etacher engages and tries to help, suddenly dies at her mother's hand, overdosed on thorazine when the nopther despairs of their economic challenges.

One reviewer has it this way: Director/co-writer Bertrand Tavernier, known for the realism in his films, takes the same matter-of-fact approach here, immersing the viewer in the very bleak everyday living conditions of the children and their families. While this sets a decidedly somber tone, it doesn't bludgeon; as tragedies take place, providing a tonic is the quiet heroism of Daniel and his efforts to challenge the system. True to the overall realism, Daniel is no perfect paragon of virtue; he has his share of character flaws (foremost, ego), and all facets of his personality are vividly conveyed by Torreton. But his--and the film's--the unwavering sense of cautious hope keeps the experience from being a draining downer and makes it a profound study of an all-too-common human condition.

Browning's Aeschylus

A very English film. Finney plays a hard-ass teacher who gives not an inch on his demands that his students learn the classics in Greek. For varied reasons, he has been forced out after 18 years, and not given a pension. Scacchi plays his not-loving wife, who is having an affair with another teacher in the private school where they all work.

Enjoyable.

Public art for public schools

New book entitled Public art for public schools contains some great pictures of NYC school buildings and art within. The Education Dept. website (within NYC.gov) has a section Public Art for Public Schools.

An example is this detail from History Of Mankind In Terms Of Mental And Physical Labor, 1941. Maxwell Starr. 1901-1978
























New York Old and New, 1936. Sacha Moldovan, 1901-1982. Oil on canvas, 4@ Approx 68 1/2" X 55 1/2"

History Boys

" Centers around eight boisterous-yet-talented schoolboys hoping to gain admittance to England's most prestigious universities. They are aided on their quest by two teachers, a shrewd young upstart and an inspiring old eccentric, whose opposing philosophies challenge the boys to confront the true meaning of education and the relative values of happiness and success."

Even without understanding all of the dialogue (my pesky American ears could not understand all the spoken English), I thoroughly enjoyed this film.

The students are studying for the entrance exams to Oxford University colleges, and are tutored by Hector, an old fuddy duddy teacher of long standing (who likes to fondle his students's genitalia as he gives them rides on his motorcycle - something they all accept), and a teacher brought specifically to tutor them.