The Teacher

This Czech film is a period piece, set in 1983 as a- communist-aligned teacher stars teaching in a primary school. Her interest in her students seems largely to go to what their parents can do for her, from small favours like cakes and housework to smuggling food across borders. As the pressures build up on parents who resist her, the consequences to their children prove ever harsher. There's some interesting elements here, in particular the framing device at a school meeting where parents are gathered together to discuss complaints against the teacher, with the majority, aligned with her, paying little heed to the complaints of the parents who have been less fortunate. As the story develops, we see the consequences and fears that restrain people from speaking up against repression.

The analogy to the wider communist regime is obvious. Performances are pretty solid, although it's not exactly subtle as allegories go. The storytelling is reasonably tight. The reason I hold back from loving this is, perhaps, this doesn't really tell us too much we don't know, and it tends towards "goodies and baddies" storytelling, with not a lot of subtlety. But it's an interesting look at the time and place from a somewhat different angle.