THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER

Israel, 2014, 119 minutes, Colour.

Sarit Larry, Avi Shnaidman, Lior Raz.

Directed by Nadav Lapid.

An offbeat Israeli film – which was remade four years later in the United States as a star vehicle for Maggie juvenile as the kindergarten teacher, a winner of awards and will reviewed.

The setting is Tel Aviv – and later sequences in the resort town of Eilat,

The central character is kindergarten teacher of two decades, married, a son in the Army, the daughter in school. The scene is set in the meal sequence with her husband, her explaining one of her students who is able to compose poetry, a five-year-old, whom she sees as something of a child wonder in the vein of Mozart.

The film shows the young boy, his background, his wealthy restaurateur father, his mother having abandoned the family, an uncle who is a poet and considered a failure by the family, and the boy brought to school by nanny who is an aspiring actress.

There are scenes of the children and the routines in the school, play, naps… At first the little boy seems withdrawn, then a vigourous scene of play with the school friend, his coming out of himself more, the presentation of a play and the characters of the Maccabees. And then the boys poetry, going into something like a creative trans, pacing up and down, speaking his poems, written down at first by his nanny, and then the teacher collecting them – and a final sequence where at the beach, the boy walks up and down in an out of the water, the teacher copying down the poem in the notebook.

The teacher intervenes to promote the boy, after being really cooled and praised at a session of a righteous course, her approaching the father of the boy who does not want his son to be a poet, gets the nanny fired because she is using the boys poetry in her acting auditions, decides to present the boy reciting his poems that he is ridiculed, then a decision to abduct the boy, taking him to Eilat.

Separate Larry gives a determined performance as the teacher. We are asked to identify with her, share her experiences, her infatuation/obsession with the boy and puzzling about the abduction, his wanting to report her to the police, her giving him the phone number and the eventual arrest.

Israeli commentators on the film see it also has an attack on narrow policies of the Israeli government as regards the parts.

1. Israeli film, comment on Israeli society, 2014, government, arts, poetry, Eric policies, protest?
2. Television, homes, school, atmosphere? A light, the hotel? The musical score, songs and chants, the Chanukah song?
3. The credibility of the plot, the trial genius, poet, the links with Mozart? A five-year-old, his vocabulary and poems, concepts? The routine of his walking up and down when composing? Credible?
4. The teacher, her background, relationship with her husband, some in the Army, daughter at school? Two decades of teaching? With the children, the ritual of arriving with good morning, and the activities in the playground, activities in the classroom, the naps? Her observing the children?
5. Observing Yellow, playing with his friend, hard on him? The poetry, her fascination, themes, taking it to the poetry group, adverse comments praising comments? Later taking the of the poem about the bullfighter the reactions?
6. Walking with You have, the name Agar, is restaurateur father, mother gone, his nanny, her taking him to school, the conversations with the teacher, using the boys poems for her auditions – and the teachers denouncing her to his father and other authorities, getting fired?
7. At home, with her husband, sexuality, talking, meals, the celebration for their son and the Army visiting?
8. The boys background, the busy father, his uncle and poetry, is uncle despised? The teacher going to see the uncle, the discussion about poetry, his offer of help? Going to see the boy’s father, his being busy, successful, not wanting his son to be a poet, wanting him to be successful in practical enterprises? The firing of the nanny?
9. The teacher, her meetings with the boy, the donee giving her the text of problems, her collecting them, the beach scene and her writing down the poems as the boys spoke?
10. Her wanting him to be acknowledged, the Mozart comparison, organising a recital, preparing him with questions, his recitations, getting dressed, on stage, the chair, the poems, the previous poet repeating the lines dramatically? The bad reactions, throwing things at the stage? The teacher’s reaction, shielding the boy?
11. At the bar, the encounter with the chief protester, the verve in the dancing?
12. The decision to take the boy, packing, the journey, going to that, the hotel, the poem, the sea, writing it down?
13. The culmination of the drama, the boy and the phone, to say that he had been abducted, the teacher in the shower, calling out, indicating the phone, the number, calling the police, to say she was unarmed?
14. The arrival of the police, the rescue and carrying the boy through the holidaymakers at the hotel? The taking of the teacher?
15. The credibility of the plot, the boy and his poems, the teacher and her obsession, the abduction, giving him up? The futures?