Hard not to see allegorical aspects to 1983 Czechoslovakian society at large in this darkly comic fable about a new High School teacher with strong Communist Party ideas and even stronger Communist Party connections back in Communist Block days, pre-Czech Republic. But the film works even better without linking it to anything other than its main players, the individually affected students, parents & teachers playing out deadly serious games of teenage Realpolitik advancement. (BTW - the film ends with titles indicating futures for the three main kids, so perhaps fact based?) You know where you stand right from the start as teacher Zuzana Mauréry introduces herself to her new class before having each student stand up one-by-one and let her know what their parents do for a living. How else to call in favors in exchange for preferential treatment? Too poor to buy your way in? Household chores are an option: an apartment to clean, appliances to fix, errands to run for Teacher or a Soviet era shop queue to stand in and wait. ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to her needs.’ What could be more proper! And as butter wouldn’t melt in Teacher’s mouth, not only does she get away with it, she gains considerable approval among many parents. Something we discover when she goes too far in ‘disciplining’ students with failed exam scores, bringing on complaints and a parent/principal conference. Writer Petr Jarchovský and director Jan Hrebejk use the meeting as a perfect structural device to break up the timeline by visualizing recent events at home and at school, then going back to the pivotal meeting. Beautifully handled by all. And for those who find some of the teacher’s monstrous actions too transparent to imagine they’d work, you may be underestimating how blitheringly awful & obvious someone in power can be in a micro-society like secondary school.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Plenty of opportunities to see how Stateside schools fail their students. Try going back to a classic that appeared just about the time the U.S. system started falling apart in UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE/’67. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2009/07/up-down-staircase-1967.html
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