To Be and to Have

Director: Nicolas Philibert
Year Released: 2002
Rating: 1.5

Irritatingly flat 'documentary' about instructor Georges Lopez and his nurturing teaching style - trouble is, by the end, I know as much about him and his students as I did before watching the movie simply by reading the video box. This is Philibert's fault entirely - his camera is too wistful to probe; it glazes over the countryside and the cows and fields (the final shot is of hay, for heaven's sake) and the arguments the kids have with each other. The slogan on the box mentions Lopez's 'international fame' - and he was born to do this job - but to be honest, I know plenty of teachers both as a student and as a teacher that excel at their jobs, that spend time after school to tutor, that act as intermediaries when students fight, who council their more troubled disciples - the 'good ones' usually act as surrogate parents. This isn't meant to downplay Lopez's talents, but it's the job of the documentary filmmaker to probe, to interview, to examine: if you want to make a fictional art film, do so, but if you want to showcase an extraordinary teacher, don't treat him like a prop.