To Be and To Have (2003)

Documentary about a rural one-room school in France. It's kind of an old-fashioned situation, but one that appears to be successful. The children (approximately 20) range in grades from pre-K to upper elementary. The teacher seems to love his work and the kids seem to be thriving as a result of the attention and the proximity to other age groups.

That said, I had a couple of problems with it. The children, the instructor, and the families seemed to cater to the cameras. There was a self-consciousness to the proceedings, especially in the case of the teacher who seemed, too often, to be acting out an idea of "wise and patient mentor." Another problem I had was that it was downright boring. I don't need a documentary to show me that children are unpredictable, precocious, selfish, and cute. I'm guessing that the intent of the film was to explore the success of the alternative educational system and to showcase the dedicated teacher -- but, instead, I felt it veered too often into "aren't these moppets fun?"

Still, there's no denying that the one-room school is interesting. I think covering more time might have been smarter -- maybe five or even ten years -- so that we could check in with the kids and see the results of their early education. Increasing the scope could've made this film meaningful rather than just sentimental.

C+