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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