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WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG: SECRET LIFE OF THE CLASSROOM
In this surprisingly gentle documentary, Fan Landsman simply follows four and five year olds in a reception class in Bath. Refreshingly, the film appears to have no axe to grind. There is interest enough in the fact that the cameras have been allowed into the hidden world of the classroom and the playground, becoming so familiar that the children often forget they are there.
Fascinating, funny and tear-jerking, this film should reassure parents need not necessarily be a jungle and that teachers can be wonderful. Certainly Moorlands Infant School’s Mrs Southwell is so brilliant that I can imagine her being headhunted by every head-teacher in the country. Never raising her voice, she simply reasons with the children at their own level.
Inevitably, Landsman has concentrated on some young characters more than others. Isaac is still getting over his father’s suicide, but his immediate problem is learning to dress himself in time for P.E. Dylan, ‘a sweetie at heart’, according to his mum, has tendency (quite natural according to Mrs Southwell) to indulge in over-exuberant fighting. Grace, who would like to have fillings and headlice like the other girls, is struggling when it come to ‘learning the skill’ of making friends.
All of them make progress and triumphant little scenes such as Grace holding hands with her two new playmates are lovingly captured on film. Although there is some elegiac music and observant camera work observing the all-too-rapid passage of time, this is not a sentimental programme. We realise afresh what distinct personalities these small people are and their private conversations are recorded unflinchingly.
Beautifully made, this is a must for every parent and my 11-yealr-pld daughter enjoyed it in different way without seeming to need any of my tissues. ‘When they’re older they’re not going to remember me’, pointed out Mrs Southwell cheerfully. I would like to think that this sensitive documentary might serve as tribute to her loving care. Stephanie Bellien |
