Fig.1

Dir: Ilmar Raag
Screenplay: Ilmar Raag
Cast: Vallo Kirs
Part Uusberg
Lauri Pedaja
Paula Solvak

The Class is a contemporary story set in an Estonian high school. A low budget film shot on digital tape with a cast composed entirely of amateur actors. First time feature film director Ilmar Raag bravely quit his day job in television to write and direct Estonia’s 2007 Oscar entry. Despite worldwide release, The Class is failing to attain significant recognition as a result of a few but un-ignorable flaws.

Our story follows that of Joosep (Part Uusberg), an insular and isolated Estonian high school student who routinely endures horrific degrees of bullying and abuse from his class mates. The opening sequence shows our protagonists humiliation at being shoved into the girls changing rooms, after being stripped naked by a fiefdom of male schoolboys ruled by the king of bullies and alpha male character Anders (Lauri Pedaja). The abuse degenerates to the point of crisis as ex-bully Kaspar (Vallo Kirs) ceases from endorsing the maltreatment out of a sense of ‘honour’ and in turn attempts to protect Joosep from his daily humiliation. Although, one would think that this would surely ease Joosep’s torment, Kaspar wrestles with the dilemma of losing his high school sweet heart as his dissent from the pack confuses her loyalties. Despite this Kaspar continues to protect Joosep when he can, infuriating the tyrannical Anders who in response tightens his grip over the class and directs his abuse at both of them as he evolves to darker methods of torment. There is no option for Joosep to look for comfort in the adults featured in the film, his totally oblivious teachers fail to offer any effective help while his father ,a militant, gun collecting amateur soldier, beats Joosep in a misguided effort to encourage him to stand up for himself. All these ingredients concoct a web of torment, lies, ‘snitches’ and cover stories and push the film ‘til the credits roll. Events at the school progress further into depravity until one final irreconcilable injustice is committed to the pair and they feel forced to wreak the only desperate justice available to them.

Although The Class features some commendable performances from totally experience-less amateur actors, the limited script would present a challenge to any of the most seasoned players. With a run time of 99mins, the piece was filmed in just 12 days, making the best of the increased flexibility of digital filmmaking. However, its attempts at slick, act dividing, MTV-esque montage hang around the plot as annoyingly irrelevant. Punctuating the flat and labour dialogue, already robbed of its dramatic tension by its one dimensional characters. A combination of compromised character development and seemingly inappropriate casting leaves us as an audience confused as to the motivations of the characters, reducing them to hollow, talking faces. There is no attempt to build a bridge of empathy between us and the characters rendering them inaccessible. We are left confused as to why the victimization is happening to Joosep, a good looking and intelligent boy, in the first place. While the entire dull and depthless class sport no opinion or dissent when showered by oppression from Anders, who unfortunately fails to ever project a convincing degree of intimidation. We as an audience are left ‘put out’ to see more in the characters then what is present in order to justify the plot, indicating a fundamental flaw in the construction of the film.

Despite its faults there are some elements of the storyline to take away and mull over. If you really really tried, you could occupy yourself with musing over the morality of observing injustice when in a position to oppose it. However, The Class on its own merit fails to deliver any condition in which to spur any real introspection. Ilmar Raag’s limited effort in developing any notion of character prevents us from identifying with anyone or really understanding anything, all the while the story arc pushes towards perhaps the most predictable conclusion on celluloid. Going only on the information in this article, I would be surprised if anyone couldn’t accurately foresee the events that close this film. Of course this doesn’t necessarily make a film ‘bad’, but after one and a half hours of flat and laboured scenes building up to a massacre of a few people you’re not really sure could feel anything in the first place, its undeniably tedious.