A deeply charming and captivating documentary by Nicolas Philibert, 'Etre et Avoir' is set within a one-room school in rural France and captures a teacher and his young pupils over the course of an academic year. The schoolmaster, George Lopez, is a thoroughly decent man, who only wants the best for his young pupils (aged between 4 and 10) and displays almost saintly degrees of patience when it comes to the cheeky, sometimes problematic, nippers.
Unlike many of his peers, Philibert doesn't attempt to rush matters. His decision to chart the youngsters over a year was inspired, as it gives 'Etre et Avoir' a real sense of development and progress. Quite aside from the rather humorous moments of the young tykes acting mischievously (of which there is no shortage), 'Etre et Avoir' has rich, filtered emotional undercurrent. Lopez's dedication to his vocation is remarkable and during an emotional interview with the teacher, he reveals his deep satisfaction in seeing the children progress. But he's more than a teacher to these kids, as some of the most affecting sequences of the film reveal, as he takes a deep rooted interest in helping them develop emotionally as well as academically. Lopez and his actions over the course of 'Etre et Avoir' reaffirmed this cynical old hack's faith in the inherent decency of humanity. And that's the highest compliment I can pay a movie.
