The Class (2008) User Reviews

This is the worst movie of all time. You can try to brush over the flaws of this movie by calling it "art" or "not commercial," but the fact remains: there is no story, no character development, no plot. It is far and away the worst movie that I've ever seen.

04/15/2009, 9:56 pm

WARNING!!!!--THIS IS NOT A COMMERCIAL MOVIE, PER SE, THIS IS ART-- IT IS A FILM!!!! The goal of the writer and the director appears NOT TO BE to pick sides but to show a clear, well-developed, highly, "highly" detailed microcosym of a class in a school in France...but even more, to show a class of what is famously known as: "minority students" inside of a Western World school. The students had exchanges in class about whether they were French or not. WELL DONE!!!! BRAVO!!!! It is definitely a movie for students and teachers to see (and study); it is a teaching tool so this is defintely not an "entertainment flick." I think every person who takes this film to heart has to be asking, "Which one of the students in this class is characteristically me?" I know I did. I know who I was in the classroom; I know I have that "self" still inside of me...that I have to come to understand. I can remember that time in my life when the "spirit" in my soul seemed restless and uncomfortable and unhappy, and rebellious, which is just a teenager's life and times. The insides are emerging and so is the physical outside. It is a difficult time. I WAS IN 7TH GRADE, when Mr. Harris wrote the wrong answer on the board (like the teacher in the movie who used the word "skank" to 13-15 year olds). I laughed loudly because it really got to me. He had been riding me all year about being perfect and there he was making a big mistake and one of the students caught it. He sent me to the principal's office and he called my mother and he lied and I got a beating. THE BEATING DIDN'T HURT ME, the lie did. Teachers are not suppose to lie; they are suppose to be perfect like policemen, ministers/priests and parents, when you are 13-15. He told my mother that I had lifted my skirt tail and offered my body to him. The teacher in this movie was characteristically Mr. Harris, which gave me reason to ask the question: WHO SHOULD TEACH TEENAGERS? ....For those who might say that these students got the "minority" treatment in France, well, they may have but I don't think that is ALL that stunts their intellectual development. I think the character Esmerelda said it best, to the teacher's question: "Why did you read THAT book?" Esmerelda said, "Because I was interested in it." NOW, what say ye education? I hope the Obamas can put a new spin on that--all children won't learn a "program" and a standard. LAST BUT NOT LEAST, this relationship continued all my life...a man with a bunch of letters behind his name, Ph.D., M.D, Ph.D. and he had a Juris prudence (law) degree too, wrote about me as a grown woman with grown children, "She is ineducable." I had already told him I had a master's degree. I hope you read my review and then see: THE CLASS. There is plenty enough wrong to go around and around.---Thank You. Margaret Opine

03/27/2009, 12:07 am

salasrms Classroom is an important movie for anyone associated with education should see. It shows how the teachers and administrators try to keep students interested, shows how some students can gang up falsely against a teacher and finally reveals how students learn without a disrupting student.

03/22/2009, 11:19 am

Poor direction, poor editing, very draggy. The lead actor is very unappealing.

03/21/2009, 9:55 am

I really did enjoy this movie. Educators in an urban setting will appreciate comparing the similarities in urban French middle schools and those in the USA. While not a documentary and not a standard drama, the movie is better than "Chalk" and lets you see the results of taking teacher-student relationships for granted. The teacher rested on his past positives and let this group down big time.

03/15/2009, 6:19 pm

I can't even justify one star for this waste of time and film. I think that the critics feel more erudite if they can convince you that they are smarter because they appreciate this junk, when all you see is, indeed, junk. Save your time and money.

03/06/2009, 11:48 am

C'est bon.

03/03/2009, 1:57 pm

AOL Moviephone left off my comments: Why did they make this movie? Why would you bother to watch it? I have no idea why they made the movie and I'm sorry I wasted the time watching it. One star may be too generous.

03/02/2009, 3:18 pm

I totally agree with CYBER. This film was beyond boring. The only thing that kept me from walking out was a shred of hope that something was going to happen. Which nothing significant ever did. I know I was not the only one who felt this way because a couple of people actually did walk out. Please, anybody thinking about seeing this film do yourself a favor and wait until it comes out on video. That way you will be in the comfort of your bed/sofa when you fall asleep.

02/19/2009, 4:11 pm