Bertrand Tavernier is a highly skilled writer and director, and here, with co-scenarist Dominique Sampiero, he comes at you head-on: if you want to find the REAL heroes in our society, don't look for cops, robbers, movie stars or sports figures. The REAL heroes could be living next door to you, or you could be one yourself. You just haven't received societal canonization yet.
Given the material, It All Starts Today could easily have been a mawkish melodrama, a kind of Good Will Hunting with kindergarten kids. The marvelous thing about Tavernier's direction is that, if anything, he understates what he so sincerely wants to tell you. That's no small feat when you have an army of adorable kids flitting in and out of camera range.
This is a deceptively simple story about a committed but deeply frustrated schoolteacher in northern France named Daniel Lefebvre (played by Philippe Torreton). Faced with a gutted coal industry in his home town that has left more than one-third of the citizens unemployed, Lefebvre fights hard to motivate and inspire parents to keep their children in school. The film doesn't preach, it doesn't rant or rave: it merely SHOWS you the exasperation that all but consumes everyone in the wake of economic near-disaster.
Torreton is absolutely devastating and charismatic as the frantic Lefebvre. He just takes over the screen even as he becomes part of it You don't believe he's acting, which someone said is the sign of a great actor.
What Tavernier is saying is extremely important in this ridiculous age of pop culture, where no-talent 'artists' grab attention and the emotions of young people. They are heroic simply because they're famous, and they're famous because they're heroic. Or something. Watch this film and you'll see teachers, social workers, parents and children who are the REAL heroes of the world.
Given the material, It All Starts Today could easily have been a mawkish melodrama, a kind of Good Will Hunting with kindergarten kids. The marvelous thing about Tavernier's direction is that, if anything, he understates what he so sincerely wants to tell you. That's no small feat when you have an army of adorable kids flitting in and out of camera range.
This is a deceptively simple story about a committed but deeply frustrated schoolteacher in northern France named Daniel Lefebvre (played by Philippe Torreton). Faced with a gutted coal industry in his home town that has left more than one-third of the citizens unemployed, Lefebvre fights hard to motivate and inspire parents to keep their children in school. The film doesn't preach, it doesn't rant or rave: it merely SHOWS you the exasperation that all but consumes everyone in the wake of economic near-disaster.
Torreton is absolutely devastating and charismatic as the frantic Lefebvre. He just takes over the screen even as he becomes part of it You don't believe he's acting, which someone said is the sign of a great actor.
What Tavernier is saying is extremely important in this ridiculous age of pop culture, where no-talent 'artists' grab attention and the emotions of young people. They are heroic simply because they're famous, and they're famous because they're heroic. Or something. Watch this film and you'll see teachers, social workers, parents and children who are the REAL heroes of the world.