The Class

This intelligent, wordy semi-documentary addresses the issue of French identity and racial tension in the Parisian suburbs by following a gaggle of high-school students from all sorts of backgrounds - Arab, African, Asian - as they attempt to learn the language and settle into life in the 20th arrondissement.

Their teacher is Francois Begaudeau, who wrote the autobiographical book upon which the film is based, and who provides the movie's centre. Filmed over the course of one academic year, we watch him trying to encourage, chastise and soothe this somewhat agitated group of young people.

The cast is entirely made up of students and teachers from the same school, and many of the scenes were developed through improvisation and workshops. It's a method that brought a directness and truthfulness to the action that was convincing enough to win the film the 2008 Palm d'Or at Cannes.

The film works because it's as much about trying to find a national identity as it is about the personal struggles these adolescents go through to discover and express their own identity.

There are issues here too of conformity - the debate over the wearing of headscarves in French schools, for instance, as well as  the more humdrum matter of having these vibrant, fidgeting teens adhere to the simple rules and regulations of the classroom. ·