Teaching isn’t the ideal profession for everyone. It is doubtful whether an arms dealer, the head of an oil conglomerate, or an electric car manufacturer with questionable politics, would come under as much scrutiny, after revealing their choice of profession.
Everyone has been to school. And everyone knows a teacher – either from current school life, having relatives, friends and acquaintances in the vocation, or because your second cousin’s best friend’s flatmate walked past a school on an Inset day, while on his lunch break. Everyone has an opinion about teaching. And no one, it seems, is backward in coming forward about sharing it.
Career advice?
Most educators will have had the awkward exchange, where well-meaning ‘friends’ have offered unsolicited comments about being unable to think of a worse profession and being advised against going into teaching at all costs, before, lovingly, telling you how little money they assume you make. In addition, they quantify, although the holidays are long – too long?, booking a break at peak times is always so expensive, so it’s lose-lose either way. All this wisdom is usually followed by the inevitable announcement that they themselves are putting their house on the market, and moving ten minutes up the road, to ensure that little Ermentrude will secure a place at the best state school in the catchment area. (I’ve just given Mike Leigh his new script, right there…)
Yes, the hours can be long, the to-do lists of demands set by governmental departments can seem never ending, and OFSTED (in whichever guise) is always ‘just around the corner’, but teaching gives the great job satisfaction of working with groups of young learners who have a, mainly, positive outlook on life, a strong moral compass and an eagerness to learn, grow and create, despite some students coming from very disadvantaged backgrounds. This point alone makes it worthwhile, which is an upside that is not found in many other work environments.
Besides, how many others will receive a Hotel Chocolat selection box from their Excel spreadsheet at year end, with a handmade card reading ‘Best Data Analyst Ever’? (Although, now, I expect the royalties from Moonpig.com when I do see it, a few months down the line.)
Personal, social and emotional education
If these last paragraphs seem like idealistic rhetoric, on the back of a misjudged recruitment drive, then spare a thought for the protagonist in The Teachers’ Lounge (2023), CFS’s latest offering, coming to The Elgiva’s screen on Wednesday March 5th.
Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch), is a newly appointed 7th grade Maths and PE teacher at a German secondary school. When a Turkish student, Ali, is accused of stealing money, the incident is handled heavy handedly by the school, with potentially racist undertones. Ali is found to be innocent but the apology issued is graceless and perfunctory. When thefts continue, including (ultimate sin alert) staff members taking money OUT of the communal coffee fund, Carla sets up her own investigation, which leads her, swiftly and dramatically, down a psychological rabbit warren with seemingly infinite bends. Carla is Polish, and this, in addition to her not being an established member of the faculty, further identifies her otherness fair quest for justice. The school symbolises how individuals act in wider society, and how quickly the social structures can crumble when the seeds of accusations and mistrust are sown.
The Teachers’ Lounge is directed by Ilker Catak, who co-wrote it with Johannes Duncker. The film has received many international prize nominations, including consideration for Academy Award for Best International Feature. It also won Best Fiction Film, Best Director and Best Performance at the German Film Awards.
The Teachers’ Lounge is not always an easy watch, the score is a scream of abrasive staccato strings and there are a few moments when Carla’s choice of action – running out of class, leaving her students unsupervised, and giving an unchaperoned interview to the school magazine – might leave the audience silently screaming at her in disbelief, but these actions may also be written in to highlight that she is no longer thinking rationally.
Nevertheless, it is a tense, absorbing thriller with strong performances – but it’s unlikely to do much for the teacher recruitment crisis that we’re currently experiencing in the UK.
Influential role models
Those wishing to view further titles with teachers at the chalk-face of the narrative might like to consider the following.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969): Based on the novel by Muriel Spark, Dame Maggie Smith won an Oscar for her portrayal of the eponymous liberal educator, who has a penchant for teaching her impressionable students about art, life and Benito Mussolini.
To Sir, With Love (1967): Sidney Poitier stars as Mark Thackery, an engineer from British Guiana, who has been unable to secure a position in his chosen profession in the UK, and instead is assigned to educate and support a class of unruly teenagers (including singer Lulu) in an East London comprehensive. Will the class of reprobates and the straight-laced patriarch learn life lessons from each other while developing a mutual respect? Hmmm. It’s a puzzler…
(See also Dangerous Minds (1995), Renaissance Man (1994) and Freedom Writers (2007).)
Dead Poets Society (1989): Robin Williams stars as John Keating, a teacher at a wealthy prep school, who adopts unconventional methods to inspire his impressionable students to discover a love of poetry and Shakespeare. They perform in plays. They defy their parents. They stand on desks. Everybody cries at the end. Captain, my Captain. And bagpipes. (You know the rest).
Mr Holland’s Opus (1995): Richard Dreyfuss is Mr Holland. He never wanted to be a teacher. He was going to be a musician. But events can take a funny turn, and you wake up 30 years later and discover that what was intended as a stop gap while waiting for better things, actually became your life’s passion. Similar to School Of Rock (2003) really, if Jack Black had been sensitive and demure and there were no references to Stevie Nicks.
Other honourable mentions include: Lean on Me (1989), Educating Rita (1983) and Goodbye Mr Chips (1939).
And you only have to watch Bad Teacher (2011), if it really is the one title standing in the way of your actually finishing Netflix. You have been warned…
And finally…
I was going to finish by mentioning the Oscars. However, today we had the sad news that legendary actor, Gene Hackman had died, along with his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, at their home in Santa Fe.
Before Gene Hackman started acting, he served in the US Marines until 1951. Always interested in acting, he joined the Pasadena Playhouse in 1956, alongside Dustin Hoffman, and the two became friends. Despite being discouraged by the venue regarding their acting abilities, the pair moved to New York to pursue their careers, and met another future screen icon, Robert Duval.
Throughout the 1960s, Hackman had small roles on screen and Broadway, and earned a supporting actor Oscar nomination for his role in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), but success really began in the 1970s, when he became a leading man.
Films like The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Conversation (1974) and A Bridge Too Far (1977), established his reputation as a reliable Hollywood A-lister, and he showed his comedic side in Young Frankenstein (1974) and Superman: The Movie (1978). Hackman won an Oscar for The French Connection (1971), as Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle, the cop who didn’t play by the rules.
Hackman’s success continued through the 80s and 90s, where he worked continuously. Notable titles included Mississippi Burning (1988), Narrow Margin (1990), Clint Eastward’s Unforgiven (1992), where he won another Oscar, and latterly surprised fans by appearing in the broad comedy, The Birdcage (1996), with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
The comedic touch continued into the next decade, as one of the last roles Hackman took was in the Wes Anderson comedy, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), which won him a new fan base and widespread critical acclaim.
With this body of work to consider, it was easy to think that Gene Hackman was never off our screens. He was a giant and an icon, and his legacy will live on. Rest in Peace.
So, there you have it. Lots to think about and review.
We hope you enjoy The Teachers’ Lounge. If you would like a consultation evening about it, members of the CFS Committee will be around after the screening. Bring your apples, but all chewing gum will be confiscated…
Enjoy the Oscars, if you’re staying up for them, look after each other, and see you at the movies.
Sarah
Information about the Chiltern Film Society can be found HERE
