Almost dreamy and strangely realistic snap shot of an academic year "Between the Walls." Engaging and sincere character of the teacher resonates in the rather soft rebelliousness of the teenagers. Parisian "Inner city" school's world reveals and illustrates the difference between it's French cultural flavor (despite the hefty proportion of the racial and ethnic mix) and the same type of the school...say...in Bronx. Interestingly the mild and kind personality of the teacher doesn't prevent him from becoming enraged by the unfairness of the reports of his behavior otherwise unbeknown to the class. The stereotypical script of the films about the charismatic teacher overcoming the resistance of the difficult class has been played and often successfully over and over again. This one is very different. The black and white (in more than one way) film leaves a feeling of gently charged and 'colorfully' gray life of ours going the way it does - familiar and mundane. 'Simple' people - teachers and students living their simple lives pass across the screen as a file of images quietly bewitching the audience with their genuine and seemingly unsophisticated humanity.
