To Be and to Have (2002): A-

The most unvarnished cinematic portrait of childhood I’ve ever seen, Nicolas Philibert’s To Be and to Have (Être et avoir) documents with intimacy, grace and candor the daily goings-on at a one-room school in rural France. The school’s student body consists of a handful of older and younger children who are taught, in alternating shifts, by a kind, caring teacher named Georges Lopez, and Philibert’s eavesdropping camera presents these kids without judgment and without over-sentimentalization, allowing their hilarious, touching and unpleasant everyday antics to speak for themselves. From pint-sized JoJo struggling to remember that the number seven comes after six, to a family trying to help their math-challenged son finish his homework, the documentary captures virtually every aspect of being a kid (and being an adult around kids): the awkward and painful process of making friends, the discomfort of being reprimanded for misbehaving, the immature squabbling and jealousy found in peer interaction, the grown-up fear of accidentally neglecting or harming a child, and the awe-inspiring wonder of experiencing the world for the first time. Philibert likely could have done without his brief symbolic interludes – involving a herd of cattle and slow-crawling turtles (both stand-ins for the kids and their early development) – but by and large, his film (imbued with a spirit similar to that of Truffaut’s Small Change) is breathtakingly authentic, affecting, and alive.

Comments

[Disgruntled Staples Movie Watcher]

Yo there Schager! First complaint - where is the worst movie list since I don't recognize anything the best movie list? Second compaint - Green and white suck when that is the only 2 colors used. Are you afraid of yellow? Purple maybe? Last but certainly not least - Who really watches all these "artsy" movies. If it didn't take more than 20 million to make it then it does not deserve a review. Write about the movies us regular people read!

[Nick]

"Disgruntled Staples Movie Watcher," shouldn't you be in class?

And I didn't know that you regular people "read" movies. I thought you watched them like the rest of us. Weird.

[Pablo Estrada]

Yes, this is the Pablo you know (at least one of the ones you know). I was just checking out your site and what it lacks on psychodelic colors [like the ones the "reader" ("Disgruntled Staples Movie Watcher") suggests that you ought to have on the site], it is compensated by writing this acurate description of a movie that when I finished watching, it left me thinking of the differences of how children are raised and schooled here in the States, France and Peru. There were many instances when I wished Mr. Lopez was one of my teachers, his understanding, patience and kindness were admirable, and very alien to me (coming from catholic school) as odd or ironic this may sound, it's true. I think that this film reminded me what it was like to be in that age group (with all the fun, innocence, curiosity, fear, naiveness, etc) and how their experiences will affect the rest of their lives. I saw it at Lincoln Plaza when it opened last year and I'm just glad it came out on DVD now. Good review.