To Be and To Have (3 Stars)

This is a documentary about a primary school in the small French village Saint-Etienne-sur-Usson. The village's population is less than 250, so there aren't many children. If I counted correctly, there are 14 children aged from 5 to 11. They all sit in the same classroom, divided into two groups. There's one teacher in the school, Georges Lopez, who divides his time between the two groups.

In the documentary we see how he teaches the younger children how to read and write, while the older children learn arithmetic and other subjects. The film's title, "Etre et Avoir", refers to the auxiliary verbs used to form the past tense in French. In English the past is always formed with "have", for instance "We have seen a film", whereas the past is formed with two different words, and the children have to learn which one is used in each case. If you speak French, you'll know what I'm talking about.

It's a pleasant film. Quaint. It's a different world to the one most of my readers grew up in. I just feel puzzled. What was the intention of the director in making this documentary? Was it simply to show a different world? I don't know. The film is critically acclaimed and has won various awards, so the critics must understand the film better than me.

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