GOTTA SEE IT # 11 - "ETRE ET AVOIR"

“ETRE ET AVOIR”

Starring: Georges Lopez, Alize, Axel, Guilliaume, Jessie, Johan, Johann, Jonathan, Julien, Laura, Letitia, Marie-Elizabeth, Nathalie, Olivier, Franck.
Directed by: Nicolas Philibert
Colour – 2002
99 mins
France

School. That word triggers a thousand memories - some truly wonderful, some absolutely horrible. Teacher. That may trigger even more. I can remember some genuinely awful teachers - those dark, miserable souls whose overall happiness seemed to rest on the very sunny prospect of me failing their class. Fortunately, flipping back the spiral notebook pages of my memory, I can also recall some very fine teachers - the kind who honestly gave a damn. The teacher profiled in this moving French doc is one of those ones.

In a one room school house, in a small French farming community, a soon to be retired teacher named Georges Lopez presides over children aged 4 thru 11. If there is any one quality a teacher has to have in abundance, it’s patience. Going over the same lessons, day after day, month after month, year after year, as students struggle to understand and progress, a teacher has to have the ability to wait for that moment when all of his pupils finally get it. If patience were pillows, Mr. Lopez would have several dozen warehouses stocked full of them. He, also, though, possesses a genuine love of his profession. He says as much in the only interview in the film - though by the time that scene rolls around, you’ve already watched that love in action.

Mirroring his subject’s calm, controlled manner, director Nicolas Philibert paces Etre Et Avoir in slow and steady steps. Heck, he even opens up with a couple of turtles crawling on the floor of the schoolhouse - a witty visualization of the unhurried rhythm at which country life, learning and Mr. Lopez operate. Philibert also mimics Lopez’s observational qualities, as he leaves his camera rolling and captures all manner of minor moments that charm and move - attention deficient Jojo neglecting his colouring; a more and more confused Julien getting “help” from a steadily increasing crowd of family members; an emotionally fragile Olivier opening up about his father’s illness.

Now, it’s no mean feet to make school seem like the most wonderful place in the world. Though this may not have been the intent, at times, it is undeniably the result. Who knows - there may be hours of outtakes of the kids turning Damien and driving Mr. Lopez nuts to the point at which he loses it in a profanity-laced tirade that makes Bobby Knight look like Mr. Rogers. I doubt it, but, just for this semi-cynic’s sake, let’s leave that possibility open. In the footage that we have to judge by, though, when things go wrong, Mr. Lopez, in calm and reassuring tones, uses logic, fairness, and emotional empathy as he attempts to turn even non-school activity into an important learning experience.

If you’re a teacher and feeling a little cynical about your chosen profession, then do yourself a favour and take a trip down to your local independent video store (those big stores won’t have it) and rent this movie. If you’re not a teacher, then this film might just make you wish you were.