Films - are somewhat censored over here, although one doesn't notice it. I haven't check whether they employ a Bangladeshi to scribble over any stray nipple that escapes from clothing (as they do in magazines over here!).
Tonight (I think) is the last night of the Dubai Film Festival (In UAE Hyperbole, The Biggest FF in the world after Cannes, Sundance.......), which is in its 5th year and seemingly successful - although if i were the organisers, i would arrange it in the summer time; a period where cinema would seem like a comfortable option for evening entertainment in the searing heat of 47 degrees.
I noticed that there was a French film showing - in fact the first winner of the Palme d'Or in Cannes for 21 years. 'Entre Les Murs [The Class]'. It was a proper screening, meaning that the Director was there along with, i think, two producers. It's basically a year in the life of a difficult class in a difficult school in a difficult neighbourhood around Paris. The interesting thing about the movie is that none of the cast are actors; they all come from the school itself, and most interestingly the teacher is not an actor, he is the author of the book from which the film is taken, and was also a teacher for ten years before he wrote the book. This all makes for very absorbing watching, and I was gripped all the way through, but in the end i was slightly disappointed; I didn't see the point of the movie.
If the film's point was the 'process' by which it came into being, then I'm afraid for me that's a bit like some modern art where one is supposed to look at the process by which this ugly piece of work came into being and not its manifestation. I believe that maybe 'art' as 'art' cannot be defined by anyone, but don't expect anyone to like your end result neccessarily, just because your process is so 'fantastic'. When that piece of art ( and in this case a film ) is up on display, no-one cares about the method.. just the end result.
So it was a bit the same with this film for me; a year in the life of some kids in a hard school... AND? I mean most of us had shitty kids on our classes at school - telling the teacher to 'piss off', throwing stuff around the class, walking out of class, throwing each other out of windows, etc. And my school was a pretty nice countryside comp. There's a very weak plot about a Malian boy who may-or-may-not get expelled, and that's supposed to be emotionally heart-yearning? Nope... In conclusion; a pretty incredible film with great performances, but saying nothing shocking or new, too long, and it left me wanting more.
In discussion with my Frenchie wife, I pondered whether the fact that in the UK we had 'Grange Hill' had not informed most of us from this generation about how crap school life can be? I mean from the age of around eight up to about 16 we were watching all manner of things going on in a very mixed, quite poor London school (it wasn't a programme that mother wanted us to watch!) - fights, bullying, money problems, smoking, drugs (incl. heroin - see Zammo), sex... Suffice to say there was not 'Le Colline de la Grange' in Horseland across the channel.
Let's hope that for the sixth year of the festival, it gets even better with more interesting films and more of a global profile (and more nipples).
Ed Venture [Oscar for Best supporting forward roll]
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