Rachid Hami's Orchestra Class is certainly generic. It's another entry both in the "against the odds protagonist" making good and" inspiring teachers" film categories, but I need to stress here, that it's an outstanding example of both.
The movie opens with lead Kad Merad's Simon Daoud, a quietly spoken, rarely smiling, down-on-his-luck musician who, despite his talents, winds up teaching violin, in a Parisian Junior high school in a clearly low socio-economic suburb. His charges are a multicultural class of rambunctious, trash-talking 12-year-olds, who given a choice have decided on violin, rather than a sports option. His task is to upskill them to the point that they are capable of joining with some other school classes and playing an orchestral selection at the Paris Philharmonic. To achieve this objective they will need to overcome internal conflicts in the class, argumentative parents and decaying school infra-structure that isn't properly maintained, due to an obvious lack of school finances.
Two things stand out for me, that serve to make this an exceptional movie experience.
The class and school setting is entirely realistic and I say this, as a teacher myself, who has taught in disadvantaged schools, such as we see in Orchestra Class. The kids look to be the real thing physically; correct age, size and dialogue (which as mentioned above, is frequently and appropriately extremely coarse). None of the sort of scenarios we often see in American high school movies, where we have to put up with actors, who are way too mature for the characters they are playing. Important to add too, that there is a class teacher who supports Simon and he behaves in exactly the way a dedicated professional should, given the educational environment in which he works.
The second is the manner in which director Hami, has managed to convincingly present both Simon's and individual class members' musicianship onscreen. My musical skills are non-existent, but the representation of the musical interludes is incredibly naturalistic to my untrained eyes and ears.
The back and sub-stories are all intriguing too. Simon himself remains fairly enigmatic throughout the film. He has a teenage daughter he clearly loves, but doesn't see enough of and we are never privy to just what occurred to end his marriage; something he appears to regret very much. The movie thankfully doesn't focus on just a singular student, although Arnold, a painfully shy, but musically gifted son of a single mother, is pushed to the fore of our attention, as, missing his unseen father, he develops a close mentorial relationship with Simon. Rest assured that other students have more onscreen time than is normally seen in these type of films.
The climax to Orchestra Class is truly, emotionally and genuinely uplifting.
Rachid Hami has crafted an energetically, gritty generic piece, that whilst being recognisable in form, is not derivative of other films of similar content. One doesn't have to appreciate classical music to respect its many admirable attributes. It makes great viewing and at a brisk 100 minutes, it could never be accused of overstaying its welcome.
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