The Teachers' Lounge (2023)

PG-13 for language and violence.  Kids really like using their middle fingers all willy-nilly in this movie.  Like, this is a movie of escalation and how mean people can be towards educators.  There are also accusations of racism, which shouldn't really be an MPAA thing.  It feels like the movie is not for kids, so just take that into account before showing this to children.

DIRECTOR:  Ilker Catak

This is the last one!   We watched everything that was available to us before the Academy Awards.  I really want to knock this one out before the Academy Awards so I can post all of my thoughts on each of the movies before the Awards actually start.  In a pretty darn good year for movies, I end on one that gives so much anxiety.  My wife can't watch doctor shows like House.  I can't watch teacher stuff because all I do is yell at the screen.

I have to remember that this is a movie that exists to make a point.  It is a story of how the small things cause people to be awful to each other. Because I didn't know much about the movie before going in, I'm actually going to commit one of my least favorite writing sins: the unnecessary summary.  I do it from time-to-time.  But people tend not know much about the foreign film category.  The basic premise is that there is a thief in the school.  The eager beaver teacher takes it upon herself to figure out who the thief is by laying a trap in the teachers' lounge.   She leaves her wallet behind with her camera recording.  She then discovers that it is the administrative assistant who is probably stealing from people.  By the way, never accuse the administrative assitant.  That person is a saint.  That person is allowed to get away with murder.  Well, the assistant is incensed regarding the accusation and everything escalates from there.  Of course, the assistant's kid is in Carla's class and she wants to protect this kid from any ugliness.  But then the kid kind of becomes the worst one in this battle for justice.  

Now, to the anxiety.  Again, I get that this is a story about unnecessary escalation.  Many stories are.  But I have this really hard time understanding if Carla is the hero of the story or if everyone in this piece is generally unlikable.  I think the point of the story is that Carla is one of those once-in-a-generation teachers, who hold teaching as a noble and moral profession.  The problem is, she makes every first year teacher mistake.  So often in this movie, I kept screaming, "Those kids aren't your friends!" and "It's not your job to have them like you."  Now, I would like to point out, I don't know much about the German education system.  It just feels like Carla finds the notion of disciplining students so abhorrent that it causes the world to be worse.  Now, I think the movie is on my side.  I think the movie is also frustrated with Carla's choices.  Before the inciting incident, we see three students skip out on gym class to hang out outside.  That's pretty bad.  Lauren told me that German classes value the outdoors, so I'll ignore that one.  But then she finds that one of the students has a lighter.  Carla tells the student that she will be contacting mom.  The kid says, "Please don't do that."  So Carla caves.  Now, if I've ever seen a commentary on a character's values, that's it right there.  Absolutely Carla needed to be the bad guy in that situation.  If you say that you are going to contact the parent, you have to contact the parent.  I know that there has to be some discipline in Germany because the principal's favorite term is "zero-tolerance policy."  

But Carla is painted like a saint compared to the other characters in the story.  The named teachers in the movie tend to view Carla as too standoffish.  We're supposed to dislike the other teachers more than we dislike Carla.  There's a bit of a problem with how this is demonstrated.  Before the administrative assistant is accused. the school does this morally grey wallet search and discover that the immigrant kid has way more money than a sixth-grader should.  So they bring in the parents and it becomes this really uncomfortable thing where people are dancing around the fact that Ali, the accused, is not white.  Now, we should feel awkward about this.  But the follow-up to this scene is that the other teachers involved in this scene question Carla whether or not she believes the parents.  Now, this is where Carla borderline accuses them of bigotry.  Listen, I get that those characters may be bigots.  But the question that they asked is valid.  Lots of parents lie on behalf of their kids.  Heck, one of the motifs of this story is the notion that parents will do anything for their children's success.  

Just so much of the movie is incredibly frustrating.  Carla keeps making choices that I wouldn't make.  But even crazier is Dr. Bohm.  I get what she represents. She's the product of too much education and not enough common sense.   Bohm handles every scene with the grace of an elephant.  When the school paper is playing this game of "Truth above everything", despite the fact that they seem to research almost nothing, Dr. Bohm seems shocked.  Where is the newspaper advisor during all of this?  Why hasn't the administration ever seen this article before it went to press?  It's this big shocking story and it turns the school inside out.  Yet, Dr. Bohm is reactive, not proactive.  What is happening inside this school?  Again, so much of the film are just these weird moments making me ask "How does this school stay open?"  

What I do applaud is the duplicity and general unhappiness on behalf of both the parents and the students.  I guess it also applies to the teachers.  One of the key issues in the movie is that they have to figure out who stole the money?  Some people are upset that Carla violated their privacy by filming her own coat.  It weirds me out that there are no cameras in the school to begin with, but let's play pretend. But the parents are upset that they are sending their kids to school with a thief on the loose, but also mad that people have been accused and asked about the theft.  Like, there's no making anyone happy in this story.  That, unfortunately, is a world I know.  It's not all parents.  Heck, it's not even the parents I'm dealing with now.  I just get that idea that some people just want to be angry all of the time and the movie nails that concept really well.

But the biggest question I have is the end message of the film.  Oskar comes into school after a suspension.  He refuses to leave.  Carla finally calls for backup to make sure that the other students aren't affected by Oskar's rebellion.  But the final reveal is that Carla follows her gut and handles Oskar herself.  I don't know why that's the message of the film.  Every other time that Carla tries to handle the problem herself, it fails.  Even at the end of the movie, the credits roll as Oskar is being escorted (victoriously) by the police as he refuses to leave his seat.  So what's the point?  I mean, if the point is that the education system is cannibalistic and wants to be mad about something, nailed it.  But it also feels like a movie that does not have an ending because stuff like this just disappears, given a certain amount of time.

But the part that really bothered me, tying back to the notion that Carla isn't doing anyone any favors is the breaking point for Oskar.  Carla finally starts weaving Oskar back into the class.  It feels like she gets a real victory with Oskar when he, in a fit of anger, smashes his way into the room holding the video laptop (he gets that file was probably emailed, right?) and he full on assaults the teacher before throwing the laptop in the river.  That's some messed up stuff.  When Oskar returns, one of the student makes a school shooter joke.  And do you know why?  Because Oskar was showing all of the telltale signs of being violent and her need to "really connect" with this kid may have gotten her class killed.  This film wasn't about a school shooter, but it absolutely could have been and that's incredibly frustrating.

It's a good movie that gets a point across.  But the protagonist is frustrating as heck.  I don't know if we're supposed to sympathize with her or criticize her.  Just know, as nice as it is when students like you, it shouldn't be end goal.