Être et Avoir (To Be and to Have) | Review

Life lessons abound in poignant child documentary.

When JoJo is asked “why he comes to school”, his frank answer “to work” is one part of the formula, however, the real answer is to learn about more than how to draw the number ‘7’, but how to make one’s way through the process of life.

One miniature-sized school contains plenty of life for one countryside community in France. One professor and about a dozen students from post kindergarten age to fifth grade are the stars in this soft and caring portrait from documentary filmmaker Nicolas Philibert. With a fly-on-the-wall style, he captures the little microcosms that occur within these walls and we get plenty of delightful, ‘put a smile on your face’ moments. The students with runny noses, crayon-colored hands in dire need of soap give us a magical couple of moments of surprised and perplexed looks and teacher Georges Lopez shows us the special bond that he has created with his yearly troupe. 35 years of teaching school children amounts to many student dictations, and it is time for this man to give to himself what he has given to others all of his life and this is the element of ‘time’ which is metaphorically shown in the changing of the seasons and the passing of another full school year. The film’s most poignant instant is the last day of school where the children’s voices fade in the background and where the camera titles up onto the face of a teacher’s last day in his career.

Aside from the magical moments found within the different personalities, what is most enriching in watching a documentary like this one, is witnessing this tenderness found in these one on one talks between this teacher and his pupils which only magnifies the importance that this profession has in shaping the lives of these small humans and comments on the role of the family in supporting this evolution. Philibert hardly interferes with this process, allowing the camera to simply record the natural school room theatrics and even follows some of the students in their environments, showing that they parents have not so different attitudes in the education of their children.

Simple, thoughtful and unpretentious Etre et Avoir brings an honest look into a profession that demands much more than we can remember. Happy retirement Mr.Lopez.

Viewed in Original Language (French)

Rating 4 stars