Once in a Lifetime (2014) - full transcript
The fact based story of a class of schoolchildren, teenagers, in a, from the look of it, mixed ethnic district of Paris, who's teacher decides to enter them in a competition to examine the holocaust from the point of view of its impact on young people. It contains some very emotional scenes and chronicles the change in the opinions and interactions of a typical class of adolescents.
Based on a true story
Hello, Nadia. Madam.
What's the problem?
I don't understand. I came yesterday
and I was told I couldn't come in
to pick up my baccalaureate diploma.
Why?
You know why, Nadia.
Why?
Because of your hijab.
But she's not a student here anymore.
She passed with top marks.
For the administration, you're still a student here.
You must follow the secular law.
You must remove your hijab.
I won't.
It's my belief.
I can't just take it off!
Why are you here?
I passed my baccalaureate.
As a student in this school.
I'm not in class with a teacher who's giving me a lesson!
You're on school premises.
Hijabs are not allowed in school.
I respected the law for three years.
Why not respect it one last time?
- You're afraid?
- No.
Afraid of the responsibility.
Give her the diploma. No one will know.
The law is the law.
Sure, the law is the law in France!
I'm proud to be Muslim and wear this!
- Ladies!
- Hello, Principal.
Mrs Flamant was clear. You have two options.
Either you carry on
like the last three years
or you go to the exam centre
to get your diploma.
This is blackmail! It's scandalous, sir!
I'm not taking my hijab off! I'm sick of explaining!
You can't even see
this belief comes from the heart!
I don't do it to annoy you!
It's her right.
Now you have two options.
They're never going to understand! Never!
Lift the veil off your eyes, sir!
Tristan Laifa...
Management Science
with an Art History option.
Camélia Haddad...
Economic Science with Art History.
Ma'am?
I wanted the European option.
Piss off then!
Your request was turned down.
Your marks were probably too low.
Théo Darmois...
Economic Science with Art History.
Geek!
Koudjiji Sissoko,
Economic Science with Art History.
Thomas Sorrel...
You forgot me.
I said
it wasn't in alphabetical order.
First years 1, 2, 3 and 4
enter in silence.
Thomas Sorrel...
Take the cap off, please.
The others too.
Your caps.
Your caps, please!
Take off your cap.
First years 5, 6, 7 and 8, wait to be called.
Come on.
Good morning.
Earbuds, miss. Cap, young man.
Cross inside your sweater.
Hijab, please.
Caps off, boys.
Management Science, Sailing option.
Sailing!
Malik Diaby...
Economic Science, Art History option.
I never picked that dumbass subject!
- What did you pick?
- Cinema.
I'm afraid you failed the casting call.
Julie...
Julie Mauret,
Economic Science with Art History .
I wanted European.
Sorry, the reply's the same.
Miss...
Miss!
Cut it out, she's calling you.
Without earphones, you might hear me.
Your name, please?
Mélanie.
Take this place
here at the front, please.
I can't see close to.
Sit here.
Shut up, I can't see.
I'm not very "frontline".
You'll be all right. Come up here.
Clam up, you!
Silence, please!
If you didn't hear,
my name is Mrs Guéguen.
Big Ben!
I teach History and Geography. I'm also your advisor teacher.
I've been teaching 20 years and still like it.
And, on a general level,
I'm not the morose type. All right?
The guy's good.
Not like that middle school dumbass.
Don't be a Jew, I haven't eaten.
- Here.
- Thanks.
No French teacher yet.
Rudy, Olivier, books aren't optional.
Bags down, coats off.
Thomas, your cap, please.
Ilyan, your bag.
You're stuck here 50 minutes so get comfortable.
The class is at 8, not 5 past. Go and sit down.
Yo, Malik!
Go, Saïd!
Your cap and earbuds.
Look at that poor cow.
Check out Julie...
Julie, that T-shirt's no good.
It's a big problem. The headband too.
I bet her pussy stinks too.
AD plus DC makes AC.
Yes, the double translation of A to D and of D to C
gives the AC vector, Chasles' relation.
It's very important.
- Put that away.
- It's not dry.
We'll see who dries up in next week's test.
Carry on, Julie. A parallelogram...
I'll give back the test.
Six or seven have 10 out of 20 and sixteen have less than 5.
There's nothing in these.
You find that funny?
As you laugh, the others move on.
The race has begun without you.
You're left standing.
There's a world out there with a place for you.
But...
I'm talking to people
who pretend to listen or see me.
I'm here. Do you see me?
Do you?
What is it, Mélanie?
I didn't get my canteen card stamped.
Too late.
How do I eat?
Not my problem. The others manage.
Screw that!
I wasn't expecting a reply.
You don't give a shit.
Nor a comment. You're wrong, I'm right. Sit down.
See me after.
Sit down!
In the Middle Ages,
religion uses images
as a means of expressing faith.
What is found in churches?
Holy wafers.
Tympana.
You studied the one in Conques in middle school?
Tympana?
Tympana? Eardrums, like?
Tympana are arches
over the front door of churches
with carved images.
This is the Torcello mosaic from Italy.
What do you see at the top and the bottom?
- Avatars!
- A weirdo!
Up here, important characters.
Angels and this blue character on a throne.
A king!
With dogs' heads. Probably Satan.
We're in hell.
You keep ignoring me!
I'm sorry.
Big tits don't attract us all!
Cut it out!
Mélanie, I'm listening. Quiet.
- I'm listening.
- Forget it.
So who is in hell?
- Bad guys.
- Those who hurt others.
Who are the bad guys?
- Koudjiji?
- Christ's enemies.
Christ's enemies. Look. Here you can see
a barbarian chief,
with a bishop, a princess
and, some experts say, Mohammed.
- What?
- What're you saying?
What shocks you?
I'm outta here.
- Sit down, please!
- This is bullshit!
Max, sit back down.
They've got no respect for us!
- Think about it.
- That’s haram.
Mohammed isn't in hell!
Is she kidding? She can't say that.
Put Rihanna there, Koudjiji too but not Mohammed!
Mohammed can't be shown!
Where is this image?
In a church.
- Aimed at...
- Christians.
At the time,
who were the Christians fighting?
The Arabs.
- Islam.
- Islam, yes.
Where does their enemy go?
- In hell.
- In hell.
That's why Mohammed's there. Your reaction's interesting.
It proves that this image works.
It makes you react
because it's a propaganda image.
No image is ever innocent.
Does anyone know where
and with whom
19th century Romanticism was born?
Romeo and Juliet!
Léa, can you tell me
who wrote "Romeo and Juliet"?
Cut it out.
Not every time, Julie.
You don't even know that?
What a disaster.
With my other class,
I'm already doing Realism.
Shakespeare.
Yes! Quiet back there!
Yes, Shakespeare. About time.
Shakespeare was what century?
Théo, what century?
He never speaks, ma'am!
No one rang for you, Rudy.
16th century, Shakespeare. What century is this?
21st!
Don't talk to me!
Malik!
Cut that out right now.
I'll smash your face in!
I'll waste you, motherfucker!
Think I'm scared? I'll waste you!
I'll waste you anytime!
Your report books.
Mélanie...
I want your report book.
I'm talking to you. Hand it over.
No way, I'm not handing it over.
He fucking started it!
Put that phone away!
I'll see you after school, damn biatch.
I've had enough of you, Mélanie.
What'll you do later on?
The dole for life!
Ok, I've had enough. Get out of my class.
You bet I will. Screw this fucking dump.
Get out!
Shut the fuck up!
Just close the door and go.
They ain't Romeo and Juliet!
As for you Malik...
I've just about had enough. This isn't the first time.
Taking the same path as Mélanie?
You want to fail too?
Ask Rudy! I did nothing!
Malik, it's not the first time. Stop it.
You play the innocent every time.
Stop it.
Do page 28 for next week.
Page 28 on a sheet of paper to be marked!
Sit down and calm down!
Anyhow, you'll never get anywhere in life.
If the second term is like the first, you'll have no choice.
You understand, Malik?
What's your goal?
The cinema option,
is that what interests you?
Cinema?
I don't know. Maybe.
You dream of quitting school?
No.
Do men and women sit on the same side?
I've never been in a church.
Didn't even know I could.
It's ok, Malik.
We'll stay together.
Take out your sketchpads and follow me.
C'mon, move.
Not so loud.
Make her prettier.
They didn't do her eyebrows.
I'm giving her lipstick.
I hope she didn't pay the artist, he did a terrible job.
That sucks!
What are you doing?
Warming my hands.
Where's your sketchpad?
Over there. I'll fetch it.
Shit, you eat too much ham!
I'm alone on the pitch!
Fucking salami, piss off.
I eat pork, I'm no Muslim.
That's why you smell like shit!
Come back!
Screw this, I'm gone.
- Joe! C'mon.
- I'm at the synagogue.
- What's up?
- No idea, he's wired.
Hello. Shanah Tovah.
How are you?
- Everything ok, Camélia?
- Yes, fine.
She's so fresh.
Let's play.
Malik. Thanks for coming.
Hello, Mrs Levy.
I need to ask a favour of you.
We're off to Israel,
so Elvis needs looking after.
I'll pay you.
What do you say?
The thing is...
Elvis is such a good boy.
Right, Elvis?
Shabbat shalom.
It's nice and warm.
Eat well, my son.
I'm off to work, Malik.
Where is it?
- Wait for me?
- Don't worry.
Who's that?
Who are you?
- Hello.
- What's that?
I'm Mrs Flysmith...
Flysmith?
Where's Mrs Guéguen?
Where is she?
She's had a death in her family.
Ma'am!
You're not wearing a ring!
I'm not married.
Lying's bad, you know.
Cheeky girl!
It's not funny.
It's sad.
We understand?
Listen!
We can waste the hour.
Simon says, "Under desks!"
Your report book!
"On chairs!"
Your report book!
I didn't do nothing!
Simon says, "Stamp feet!"
You're real babies.
De...
mo...
cra... cy
in Athens!
Bring me that phone!
Bring me that phone!
Fuck off, you're not my mum.
Simon says, "Play the fly!"
This class is a nightmare.
- Go on, cry!
- Cry!
Need a Kleenex?
Hello, Anne.
Not too tough?
No, I'm ok.
Hi, Anne.
Sorry I couldn't make it to your mum's funeral.
You're in for a shock.
Your class is a disaster.
There've been
three disciplinary reports.
Things might be complicated with them.
Democracy's meaning has changed over time.
Greek democracy
is the power given to each citizen
to judge and decide.
Can you slow down?
The Athenians liked a random draw
as the Gods played a role in that.
In an election,
they feared the winner
might feel empowered to stage a coup.
This system is the basis of Athenian democracy.
We have five minutes left.
I'd like to talk to you.
I've been thinking about a project for us.
A contest.
- A beauty contest?
- No, Léa.
Not a beauty contest.
The National Resistance and Deportation Contest.
The what?
Every year, 50,000 students
do the contest in France.
Sounds geeky...
Shut up and listen.
She busted you!
I would really like...
I would really like us to take part as a group.
All together.
Yes, Julie?
What do we need to do?
A document or a presentation
developing your ideas on the given theme.
It's a bit of extra work.
I'll give you the theme anyway.
It's the holiday soon, I don't need this.
No way.
Just wait and see.
Only if it's on DiCaprio.
Children and adolescents...
Too long.
...in Nazi concentration camps
We know nothing about Nazi kids.
No, William, it's about the children who were victims
of the Nazi system.
There's nothing funkier?
It's off the programme but you looked at
World War Two in middle school.
- Yes.
- No, we never saw that.
Bullshit.
- I was sick that day.
- Not true.
We can do it from scratch
but that's not the important thing.
What's the subject about?
Well...
Kids and all.
The war?
Théo?
Hitler and stuff.
The Jews, ma'am.
- Ilyan?
- That bastard Hitler.
The Aryan race.
What's that?
Blonds with blue eyes superior to everyone else.
Hitler is dumb too.
He's dark, short, with brown eyes...
Not blond with blue eyes.
Yes, you're right. And?
- The war...
- The concentration camps.
- Ilyan?
- The gas chambers.
- Henda?
- Death.
Julie?
The Shoah.
Can you tell us what the Shoah is?
- The extermination of the Jews.
- Exactly.
- Ma'am?
- Yes, Thomas.
Why always the Jews?
Jews don't really concern many of us.
Ma'am, I have some Coke.Jew want some too?
I won't have that.
It's a joke.
- Chill, it's just a joke.
- Not.
No, it's not. No joke is innocent.
In legal terms, that's a racist remark,
punishable by law.
Would you be happy if the punchline
was Chink, Buddhist, Arab or Black?
Sorry, but there's a limit.
Olivier...
Read us the subject, please.
Olivier?
My name's Brahim now, ma'am.
You're Olivier Frémont, whitey!
On the class register, I have Olivier.
To change it, see the administration.
Read the subject, please.
"Children and adolescents
in Nazi concentration camps."
Children and adolescents.
No religion, no nationality.
They could be Dutch, German, French...
Jewish children died in the camps,
not French ones.
French Jewish children.
And French Gypsy children.
Ok.
60 million died in World War Two,
half of them civilians.
6 million Europeans died
just because they were Jewish.
300,000 for being Gypsies.
This is not a test.
It's not marked.
Can you help us?
Of course. The school librarian too.
What's your goal?
You know we'll screw up. Why're trying to shame us?
Why do say that?
You know very well
we're not up to it,
so why do you want us to do it?
Complaining again, saying everyone is pointing at you.
You play the lame ducks.
You have no self-confidence.
The Euro class would jump at this.
We have other stuff to do!
I'm not doing it!
I'm not either.
It's funny, I have more faith in you than you do in yourselves.
I think you have a great deal to say about this.
She doesn't give a shit about you!
Are you serious?
She only wants to show off by enrolling dumbasses!
I want to learn stuff, ok?
You want to learn stuff?
- Don't even speak to me.
- It's ok, I won't!
Dumbass! Shut your mouth!
This class leads in unjustified absences
in relation to others in the year.
We have 173 unjustified half-day absences,
84 cases of lateness.
Behaviour is no better.
31 students expelled from class,
48 hours of detention,
4 cautions and 2 temporary suspensions.
The class malfunctioned all the first term.
The class has delayed all progress
and we now have around ten students who have more or less given up.
The overall outcome is disastrous.
Any remarks from the student delegates?
No.
Parent delegates?
I wasn't supposed to be alone...
I've had several calls
concerning some students' clothing.
Parents asked...
I've spoken to several parents.
This isn't the place...
What are you referring to?
Long skirts and hairbands.
Sorry but those skirts are worn only by certain students.
Elsewhere, there have been suspensions...
I'll be clear about this. Let me speak, please.
I see more than 1,000 students a year and as many fashions.
Short, long, mini, maxi,
G-strings and others,
I don't view a long skirt
even worn by a Muslim student as a religious item.
Despite suggestions, I won't suspend a student for that reason.
Now then...
Rudy Aloa.
Generally poor, many remarks on his attitude and absences.
- A caution?
- Definitely.
Max?
Rudy's dad is in hospital.
He has his brothers to look after.
Thanks, we know about Rudy's dad.
It's systematic.
Nothing but excuses
and mitigating circumstances.
The class is full of that.
Important choices are made this year in the second term.
After, it's too late.
Looking at these reports,
I'm not betting on the outcome.
Well, I think Rudy's improving.
You do?
He began with 5 in every subject.
Now he's moved up to 8.5.
We're a little perplexed...
To say the least!
Camélia's not coming?
I don't know.
In any case,
it takes two to compete collectively, so we're ok.
I'll give you the subject again.
- Sorry, I got the wrong room.
- That's ok, Yvette.
Everyone here?
Small teams do good work.
You're Julie?
And you're...?
Théo.
Good.
- Hello, ma'am.
- Hello, Koudjiji.
- Here we are.
- We had nothing else to do.
Hello, ma'am.
- Hello.
- Hello, Max.
We came to check it out.
Max said there were snacks.
Max gave us the wrong room. It's B11, not D11.
Are we gonna win?
We may not win
but at least you're here.
But we might not stay.
We'll see.
I don't want to be alone.
We'll try.
It'll be tough.
We'll see.
All right...
What do you know
about concentration camps?
They're camps
where you concentrate.
Or not.
What a jerk.
You can spare us that.
It's not my crap joke, ma'am.
People are mistreated there.
They work too.
What?
Yes, that's right, they work.
An old-style Job Centre?
Shut your mouth!
Koudjiji?
A forced labour camp.
There were forced labour camps
and extermination camps.
Were there concentration camps in France?
No, not in France.
We were the good guys.
We'll see how good we were.
There were internment camps in France.
Do we have to note this?
No, this isn't a class. It mustn't be a class.
Don't learn history, understand it.
Well said!
9-2 to Yvette.
The other day,
Julie mentioned the term genocide.
What does that evoke for you?
You learnt it last year.
We learnt nothing.
What happened when a family arrived at a concentration camp?
Women, children and men were separated and killed in turn.
If they could work or not.
That was called selection.
They were selected.
It's an important subject because who's exterminated first
to eradicate a people?
The weak.
Women and children.
- Not just that.
- What do women do?
They reproduce.
Children and women
are likely to perpetuate a people.
- Horrible.
- That sucks.
Do you know other genocides?
- Koudjiji?
- Rwanda.
- With Corneille?
- I'm sorry?
A genocide victim.
The singer.
His parents died in the genocide.
All right, Max, that'll do.
I know one.
The genocide in Algeria.
- In Algeria?
- The Harkis.
Olivier, that wasn't a genocide.
Brahim, please.
We've talked about that.
- Palestine.
- He's right.
It's not a genocide.
It is!
They're doing the same thing.
Listen to Yvette!
Can someone tell me
the difference between genocide
and a massacre,
a massacre in wartime?
Everyone's massacred.
In both.
What's genocide?
It's when everyone the same is killed.
She's not entirely wrong.
It's when people of the same religion or the same colour
are all killed.
Genocide is the physical extermination,
planned and systematic,
of a group because of its origins.
That's what's happening!
That's not the case in Palestine.
Is the same thing over there!
The conflict with Israel
leads to massacres and war crimes
but Israel has not made the decision
to exterminate the Palestinians. See the difference?
We can't know.
The media lie to us!
He's right!
No other society
has built gas chambers.
Only the Nazis did that.
They were part of a deliberate plan.
Maybe there are different methods.
Maybe they had no budget. You never know.
Have you heard of the word "Shoah"?
Yeah!
What does it mean in Hebrew?
On a hot day, I take a shoah.
Max...
In Hebrew, Shoah means
"annihilation".
To achieve that, they use the energy
generally deployed to uplift humanity
to destroy a people.
We'll return to that later.
Now then, the subject
is about children and adolescents.
How old would the children be?
Children and adolescents.
- Including babies?
- Yes.
- Babies?
- That's not funny.
No, Max, it's not funny.
Ma'am, it's 10 to. Can we go now?
Yes, but for next time
try to think about the way
you want to tackle the subject.
- Ma'am?
- Yes, Jamila?
How can we talk
about dead children and adolescents?
They're not here
to tell us what they lived through.
Yes, it's a tough subject.
But they left traces.
All kinds of documents.
Yvette will be a big help.
If you want,
you can read Anne Frank's diary.
She was an adolescent
who hid from '42 to '44
in Holland with her family in an apartment.
She started writing this for herself
but then she heard on the radio one day
that everyone who was hiding should write
for posterity, to bear witness.
- She died in Bergen-Belsen.
- No spoilers!
I also have "No Nomads Allowed" on Gypsies.
I have a graphic novel...
Awesome!
- We'll take it.
- The four of us!
- "Auschwitz"...
- No!
Another interesting thing is to work in groups.
That can be enriching
because you can pool your research
and end up with much more material to work on.
And think hard about the way
you feel about the subject.
It's your thoughts that matter here.
The way you react
to this subject.
- You're not with us, Olivier.
- I am!
Stop, I told you! Stop.
Get off my back.
Who're you talking to?
When I tell you to stop, you stop, ok.
You need to obey.
We already warned you about your clothes.
Did we warn you or not?
Wanna play the slut? Ok, live with it.
Come play the slut with me.
Filthy slut, that's what you are.
Don't worry, we'll be back for you.
Remember that, slut.
Excuse me.
Is it reasonable to do the contest with that class?
I don't understand
what you're aiming for.
With a better class, it would be logical.
I don't get it.
They're so far behind already. And now this contest...
For me, you're wasting time
better spent on more deserving students.
- Besides...
- What?
29 communities live in harmony here.
I want things to stay that way.
You understand?
I fear so, sir.
Goodbye.
Now try to think what was going through this adolescent's mind.
Ma'am!
Anyone can print out pages and pages of Wikipedia.
But you, Léa, Jamila, Henda,
what do you want to say about it?
You can do better than that.
It's not bad.
I'm not saying it is but you can do better.
Can you come here?
- Yvette?
- Yes, Max.
We saw the photos on the web. They're scary.
They're like the living dead.
Yes, I know Max.
What have you prepared?
We've done the best work for sure.
But it's on Rudy's flash drive and he's sick.
Yes, sure, blame the absent.
Always blame the absent.
I wasn’t born yesterday, ok.
Get to work now, not tomorrow.
- Yes, William?
- Can I show you this?
Yes.
What has your group worked on?
We worked separately.
Show us, William.
Look what William has done.
Cool, isn't it? Right, ma'am?
Don't you like it?
Can you explain it for us?
These are all arms...
with numbers.
They're from the camps.
Ok...
Men, women or children’s arms?
No idea. I just printed them out.
What do these numbers correspond to?
They're all different
but what's behind these numbers?
And don't say arms!
What's behind them?
Prisoners.
But why numbers rather than names?
Names are longer to write.
William, it's great
to have an original idea.
But without more content,
it doesn't work. You understand?
That goes for all of you.
I see nothing but style.
All you talk about is the style but never the document's content.
Maybe we're not up to it.
Who said that?
Not up to what, Théo?
Not up to talking
about a subject like this.
Properly, I mean.
Does anyone agree?
Then don't talk like students.
Talk like children, adolescents.
With all your differences and sincerity.
I know you're up to that.
But this is good. You're making progress.
Dopey talks now?
You're going to class?
You're playing the tough guy with the beard and all.
Malik!
See you later.
- Salaam, bro.
- How's it going?
Everything cool?
You missed the mosque.
Are you shitting me? You've been Muslim a week.
- Lecturing me now?
- No.
You don't know shit about my life. Stay out of it.
I didn't see you at the mosque last night, that's all.
I was worried, it's cool.
Remember, Olivier ate pork a month ago.
Quit laughing, guys.
Olivier belongs to the past. The name's Brahim now.
You're still Olivier for me. What's the problem?
You're the problem, not Olivier.
What a joke.
Look how you fit in
with a jellaba at school!
What's the problem?
How d'you ride a bike in it?
I hike it up and pedal. Why?
You already had a hard time getting on.
Cut it out. Who are you to judge?
You're losing your way, bro.
You're trying to make me look like a bad Muslim here?
I'm just reminding you.
Reminding me?
You can keep your reminder.
Malik!
Can I help you?
No, it's ok.
Looking for something?
No, I said. My mistake.
It smells ancient here.
Mrs Thomas?
Is the outing far from the shopping mall?
I don't think so.
Can we go after?
We'll see what time we have.
What do you have?
The children of war and peace.
We've found...
a poem by Primo Levi from his book.
Yvette, I took your advice.
I loved Schindler's List.
I'm glad you saw it.
You like films like that?
It's a real tough guys' movie.
I bet you cried.
If I did, that shows my human side.
No, just that you're a faggot.
- Maybe he pretended to.
- He cried.
Tough guy...
Enough...
Olivier, the others have been here
20 minutes.
You miss every other session.
Make your mind up.
Ma'am!
- Yes?
- It's not fair.
We worked on the Gypsies. They've done the same.
Ours is better. Take that down.
What does that mean?
Shut up, you geeks!
We can do it too!
Calm down now...
Shut up!
Stop!
All right...
I'll start again.
When I suggested this contest,
I said I wanted us to work as a team.
You know what that means?
When you play soccer,
you play in a team, all right?
You pass the ball.
That's team work.
I always see the same groups.
You don't exchange anything
or speak to each other.
Why didn't you ask Gabriel
if you wanted more information on what he's doing?
Why don't you go to see Gabriel?
Why not ask what he's done?
It would be more interesting if you exchanged information
instead of quarrelling.
Just small groups
working on different things.
"I'm the best, the others are useless."
You don't talk or listen to each other!
When you talk, you insult each other! You call that team work?
This is hopeless!
And you make me shout. It's boring.
I AM AN EXCEPTION
Where's that from?
A book I read.A Child in Auschwitz by Maurice Cling.
He tells his story and how he survived.
Not many children survived?
No, Théo, not many.
Can I borrow it?
Can I borrow the book?
Julie...
- What's it called?
- A Child in Auschwitz.
Is it good?
I don't know.
Fucking negro piece of shit!
What did you just say?
I didn't say nothing.
Let's see what you say to the principal.
No one touches me, get it?
Bitch!
Touch me and I'll waste you!
Don't touch her!
Fucking bastards!
Screw you, you fuckers!
I'll get you, you faggots!
Still good this weekend?
You thought I'd say yes?
You asked Farah, she blew you off.
Wasted you, dumbass.
I've never even spoken to Farah!
I know you tried it on.
Hello, boys. Telephone.
This might interest you.
I hate reading.
You can read?
Of course, I can. Shut up.
She busts my balls.
B
BE
BER
BERG
BERGE
BERGEN
B
BE
BEL
BELS
BELSE
BELSEN
B
BU
BUC
BUCH
BUCHE
BUCHEN
BUCHENW
BUCHENWA
BUCHENWAL
BUCHENWALD
D
DA
DAC
DACH
DACHA
What're you doing?
Learning to read.
THE JEW AND FRANCE
Here you can see
the journey of the trains from the internment camps.
All the way to Poland,
crossing Germany and Czechoslovakia
to reach the concentration camps.
There's rage and there's anger.
You also think that there has to be
someone to relate all that
without realizing
you'll be the one saved.
He told me,
"Speak or you don't deserve
to have come back.
Someone else should have."
If you want to go...
We'll go some other time.
With 225 kilos of corn,
you can fill a car's tank or feed a Mexican
for a year.
Ma'am? What do we do
if the Mexican has a car?
Before you binge on chocolate,
remember that mankind's future is...
- In a bowl of rice!
- As rotten as ever!
Enjoy the holiday.
You're nuts, holidays are a drag.
Bullshit. We can play soccer.
I'm hot for it.
- How's Elvis doing?
- He's ok.
Have you eaten?
Not hungry.
The ceremony was dignified and solemn,
like this new member
of the Académie Française.
Three French presidents saluted
the woman joining the Académie,
Simone Veil,
who spoke of her parents
who died in deportation.
My thoughts never leave my mother,
day after day,
more than 60 years after she vanished
in the hell of Bergen-Belsen.
I think of her,
along with my father,
also sent to the camps
and who died in the Baltic states.
Simone Veil,
survivor of the Shoah,
a leading feminist
and steadfast politician,
praised by the novelist Jean d'Ormesson.
A large majority of French people worships
the icon that you have become.
What typifies you
is your courage.
And the French love courage.
"She died on March 15,
while I was working in the kitchens.
In a way, I've never accepted it.
Mother is at my side every day
and what I've achieved in my life,
I owe to her."
Jamila?
Tell us what you've worked on.
Everybody listen.
When we were at the Memorial,
we thought about this poster we saw
and that class
about that mosaic in Italy.
And we thought this poster
could be the starting point
for our document.
Tell us why.
Well...
Why am I doing all the talking?
You told us
there were no innocent images
and, if you look closely,
the children next to Pétain
seem to be protected.
It says, "Once upon a time,"
like in a fairy tale.
He looks like a kind grandfather.
A superhero with his medal.
If you look closer,
you see
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
is replaced by
"Work, Family, Nation".
In your opinion,
what's the difference
between one "slogan" and the other?
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
are rights
but also French values.
And the others?
"Work, Family, Nation",
they're things we have to do,
duties, like.
It's a beautiful idea, girls,
to use that poster.
Do you all agree?
Yeah.
Bullshit.
Rudy, I think you wanted to talk about
a drawing by Pascal Crocci?
It's a page from the graphic novelAuschwitz by Pascal Crocci.
We've seen loads of photos
of the concentration camps,
horrible photos
of what went on at that time
but I noticed we'd seen no photos
of the gas chambers.
Probably because no one survived.
Photos, Malik...
Ok. Here we go.
This is a photo
that we saw at the Shoah Memorial
and, if you take a closer look,
you find it in Crocci's book.
Here's what the artist shows:
a gas chamber,
this inside of a "shower".
But one thing surprised me.
What’s that?
He's shown them
with hairstyles and clothes
when, in theory,
their heads were shaved
and they were naked to take a shower.
For me, having clothes
and your own hairstyle
allows you to have your own identity.
So I think that's the artist's message.
He's giving them back their identity
to show that they were unique
and had their own lives.
The opposite of what the Nazis did
by erasing their identity
in order to trivialize...
their death.
It's all shit.
We're going round in circles.
Always the same thing.
Enough.
We're making good progress.
Shut your mouth!
Watch it!
- What did she do to you?
- Stop!
What's your problem?
What did they do to you?
Wanna settle it?
Yeah, I do.
That's enough. Cut it out!
Shut your mouth, whitey.
Sit down!
Think you're tough?
That's enough.
Sit down.
Jerk.
Shut your damn mouth!
You can't help it, can you?
After two months, we're still here?
I've invited a camp survivor.
I might cancel.
I couldn't bear any disrespect.
Let's make things very clear.
Anyone who wants to stop
can stop.
Right now.
I'm outta here.
Get lost, we don't need you.
See you, dumbass.
Go on, get lost.
Move it.
Right, let's carry on.
Yume? Clara?
It's ok if you're not quite ready.
Camélia!
I have to go.
Hello, Mr Haddad.
I'm a bit emotional.
Sorry, I see some fine faces
in front of me.
My father was arrested in '41.
He was one of the 4,500 men
who were arrested by the French police
and taken to the Drancy camp
near Paris.
We, the three children,
were arrested in August '42.
Imagine the despair of a father
who has spent a year
in a concentration camp
in appalling conditions
when someone tells him,
"Hey, Zyguel, three of your kids
have just arrived at the camp."
When we arrived in Poland,
the doors were thrown open.
To my 15-year-old mind,
my life had been turned upside down.
I didn't know where I was.
The interpreters arrived and told us,
"All men aged between 16 and 50,
get off the train."
I was only 15.
My father and my brother got off.
I got off with them
and the train continued,
carrying off
the elderly and the children,
the women too.
My sister,
who had been arrested with us,
was on that train
that left for Auschwitz.
We never saw her again.
They called me so I went.
Like I was told, I went into the hut
where I found the prisoner
who was going to tattoo my number.
I stepped up to him
to tell him I was Zyguel.
I laid my arm down on the table
like this
as he was looking
at his lists and numbers.
He told me,
"From now on, you'll be 179 084."
Then he turned his head
and realized that he had
a child's arm in front of him.
He looked up
and stared at me for a few seconds.
That can feel like a long time.
Then he said,
"I'll do something good for you."
Then he started marking the numbers
and said,
"There, you're number 179 084."
1...
17...
179...
179 0...
179 084.
In the morning, the siren sounded.
We had to go to the square
for roll call
and take with us the comrades
who had died during the night
and put them in front of us
as we stood in line.
We also took
the others who couldn't go on.
They were so tired, they couldn't stand.
They would look at us
with such suffering in their eyes.
They knew they were going to die
but they wanted to live.
My father wasn't a very strong man.
One morning,
we had gathered for roll call as usual,
ready to leave for work.
The head SS officer
arrived with a sheet of paper
and had the following words translated:
"Those prisoners whose number I call
will stand to one side on the square.
They are going to be sent
to the health camp.
They will be cared for
and will catch up with us later."
But we knew there was no such thing
as a health camp.
Anyone who was sick
was sent to Auschwitz or Birkenau
to be burned or gassed.
The officer started calling the numbers
and, at one point,
called my father's number.
We didn't want to show
our grief to the SS men.
Holding our tears deep inside,
we said, "Dad, goodbye,
they'll take care of you
and we'll see you soon."
But we knew it wasn't true.
He played the same game.
"Don't worry, boys,
they'll look after me. I'll be back.
We'll be together again."
He knew it wasn't true.
He left and we never saw him again.
That's how it happened.
In the concentration camps,
what did you cling to
to keep going
and to stop yourself from giving up?
Personally,
I couldn't imagine I was going to die.
I was convinced that I'd make it,
that I'd survive.
I was 15
and told myself, "I'm 15,
when I get back
to the Boulevard de Ménilmontant,
and see all my old friends again,
when I tell them
everything I've been through,
they're going to say,
Léon is a tough one."
I just wanted to show off.
The tiniest thing
that could help you cling to life
had to be grasped and used.
Life...
Dignity...
You have to fight for that.
The important thing
is the permanent struggle
against racism.
During that period,
I learned the true value
of friendship and solidarity.
Did religion help?
Did you believe at the time?
No, I'm an atheist.
Ok.
I don't believe.
I believe
in mankind,
like I believe in you
who are here today.
I don't think there's a God.
"Those of us who have survived
and who have witnessed
the barbarity of the Nazis,
have observed
with impotent rage...
the death of our comrades.”
Some things are hard to take.
"The final crushing of Nazism
is our goal.
Our ideal
is the construction of a new world
of peace and freedom.
We owe that
to our murdered comrades
and their families.
Raise your hands and swear to show
that you are ready to fight."
And, still loyal
to the Buchenwald Oath
proclaimed on the roll call square
on January 29, 1945,
I'm here today.
So it's almost 70 years
since I took that oath
and I try to pass it on
to anyone who will listen to me.
He still has his tattoo?
You bet, it's there on his arm.
It was crazy. Totally awesome.
Would you like to sit down?
To think we show off,
if we ride a wild rollercoaster.
With all he went through,
it was the same for him.
Too bad you weren't there.
Ma'am, she offered you her seat.
Rudy...
Camélia...
Clara...
Malik...
William...
Jamila...
Gabriel...
Koudjiji...
And me.
Sorry we're late.
Hello.
What's changed here?
We did a draw, like in Athens.
One group's sorting information,
archive and testimony
and one's working on the layout.
Then we'll write it.
What are these drawings?
Thomas Gève was sent to Auschwitz
with his mother.
He was 13 but looked older
so he was judged fit for work.
His mother was sent to Birkenau to die.
These are the four main dangers
in the camp.
The one that surprised us
was the infirmary.
He drew a skull above it.
The infirmaries were dangerous
as Léon told us.
- Ma'am?
- Yes?
Malik has a great idea.
So tell us, Malik.
We were thinking
that through all the books,
films and documents,
it's like making encounters.
Now, we talk about Anne,
Hélène, Maurice, Thomas
and, of course, Léon.
We have photos of those we've seen
or that we'll meet before we finish.
And, once we finish, I thought
we could release balloons
with their names to thank them.
Great idea, man.
Wonderful.
Léa?
Which team?
A strange world indeed
where children with yellow stars
were banned from parks like dogs.
For a year, I had been excluded
from Paris parks.
What a shock.
A summons.
We all know what it means.
I could already imagine
the camps and isolation cells
and that's where Dad was to go...
Like most people,
I don't want to have lived in vain.
I want to be useful to those around me
yet don't know me.
I want to live on even after my death.
Is she still a woman
after losing her name and hair
along with her memory,
eyes vacant and blood cold,
like a frog in winter?
Do not forget this happened, ever!
Engrave these words in your hearts.
I was a very insolent child.
I couldn't bear it and I still can't.
I was always
impertinent and insolent in class
and I still have within me
a strong temptation to be insolent.
Nothing can or must be forgotten.
Beyond the horror,
only the dead matter.
The gas chamber
for women, children, the old,
for those with scabies,
who limp, who look unwell.
Slow death for the others.
2,500 survivors
out of 78,000 deported French Jews.
Only the Shoah.
I'll never forget the smoke and stench
of the Birkenau furnaces.
You had to defend yourself
or, very quickly,
life slipped from your grasp.
And I think that's how I was
of use to them.
Because I was harder.
I've made some cakes for you.
Do I mention the second part
in the presentation?
No, just mention her strength.
Life is hard.
We're in danger all the time,
but if we perish, if we die,
we'll die like human beings.
As for Father and Mother,
I decided to stop thinking about them.
Despite all I heard,
with the confusion around their fate,
I still cling
to the mad hope we'll be reunited
if I miraculously escape this hell.
I was 13.
All I had seen were dead people
and corpses.
I knew nothing else.
At times, history and life are ruled
by a merciless law that goes as follows:
"Give to him who possesses,
take from him who has nothing."
My carefree, superficial nature
precedes my deeper nature
and always prevails.
Little star,
do not light the German's path,
so that a Jewish child
and a Gypsy child may live.
Mother was so brave.
She held back her tears
but, even so,
seemed disheartened and sad.
She said to me, "My son, promise me
you'll take good care of Annette.
Be her father, her mother
and her big brother.
I'll die on the journey."
Marshall Pétain?
Done.
- Maurice Cling?
- Done.
- Simone Veil?
- Done.
- And Léon Zyguel?
- Done.
What's wrong, Max?
They could've been saved.
The French kids...
the Germans didn't want them.
Not under 16!
That bastard Laval
sent them to join their parents,
who were already dead, burned
and no one did anything!
No one said anything!
He killed kids and babies.
They could've been saved.
- Simon Veil, page 24...
- Why has it stopped?
"Open door 3 of vertical transporter."
What's that?
No idea.
I don't know how it works.
I don't know either.
Try opening that.
What does it say?
- That's not it.
- "How to remove staples."
That's not the transporter,
it's the staple remover! Close it!
What does it transport?
It says "Open door 3
of the vertical transporter"!
I have to get all this to Paris
by this evening!
What's the vertical transporter?
This damn photocopier has never worked!
- Another emergency?
- Yes.
Go on then.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
You'll have to wait.
"I AM AN EXCEPTION"
Calvin develops considerations
on predestination.
He thinks everything is settled
before birth.
God decides for each man
if he goes to hell or heaven
before his birth.
That sucks.
Calvin also condemns images
because he thinks they lead to idolatry.
For next week,
look at the document on page 193
and do a list of European countries
with a single religion
in the late 16th century.
All right.
Now...
I have something to say.
I'm proud of you.
Thank you, ma'am.
In fact...
I'm very proud.
Whatever the outcome of the contest,
we took this all the way to the end.
You took it all the way.
All together.
There.
For the Art History group, remember
the bus for Brussels leaves tomorrow
at 7 am.
All right?
Life is beautiful.
Destiny shies away.
No one plays the same cards.
- The cradle's veil shifts.
- The roads lie ahead.
Too bad,
we weren't born under the same star.
Why fortune and misfortune?
Why was I born broke
when his pockets are full?
Why does my dad ride a moped to work
when his wears a suit
at the wheel of his BMW?
Have fun with Camélia.
No worries.
Filthy Jews
- Have a good day.
- You too.
- Hello, Malik.
- Mrs Levy, I have to run.
- Have a good day.
- You too.
He's overdoing the perfume...
There’s this bird that flies so high
his wings freeze
and he falls into a field.
He’s dying of cold
but a cow shits on him
and he wakes up.
He starts crying for help.
Just then, a box...
No, a fox passes by,
hears him and eats him.
What's the moral of the story?
Someone who shits on you
isn't always your enemy
and your saviour isn't always a friend.
When you're in the shit,
keep your mouth shut.
Your joke sucks!
Nearly there!
It's beautiful!
- Beautiful
- Look up there.
Is that gold?
Come on, we're waiting!
Hello.
Théo, come and see.
Let's get this for Mrs Guéguen.
Pretty brooch.
- How much?
- 50 euros, a good price.
Let's get it.
5 euros each.
Come on, Rudy!
Go on, man!
Go on, man!
I win! I win!
You next, Théo.
Go on, Théo!
Théo! Théo!
Go, Théo!
You're the best!
I'll do the roll...
- Rudy?
- Present.
- Mélanie?
- Present.
What's in the envelope?
William?
Present.
- Théo?
- Present.
What's that official envelope?
- Malik?
- Ma'am, please!
Go on, Théo...
Open it, I'm too nervous.
Go on, Théo.
Come on!
Hurry.
Stop smiling and hurry up!
Hurry it up.
Come on!
As finalists in the National
Resistance and Deportation Contest,
you are invited on June 18 at 5 pm
to the award ceremony
at the Ecole Militaire
in the presence
of the Minister for Education,
Youth and Community Life
and the Secretary of State
for War Veterans.
I don't believe it.
An official invitation...
Mr Minister,
Mr Secretary of State,
ladies and gentlemen,
Paul Eluard wrote:
"If the echo of their voices fades,
we shall perish."
For that reason,
the National
Resistance and Deportation Contest,
launched in 1961,
matters more than ever.
It allows young people
to hear those voices.
They learn civic lessons
for their daily life
and reflect upon their responsibilities.
I wish to thank all the teachers
who volunteer
to assist their students
and thus carry out a civic task.
A task of remembrance.
A first-year high school student
from Créteil's Léon Blum High School
will now read the Buchenwald Oath.
We, the detainees of Buchenwald,
have gathered here today
to pay tribute
to the 51,000 prisoners
murdered at Buchenwald.
51,000 fathers,
brothers and sons died.
They died in agony
for fighting the regime
of the Fascist killers.
We, who have survived
and who have witnessed
the barbarity of the Nazis,
have observed with impotent rage
the death of our comrades.
One thing helped us to survive:
One thing helped us to survive:
the idea
that justice would return one day.
Today, we're free.
Today, we're free.
We, the prisoners of Buchenwald,
Russian, French, Polish, Czech, German,
Spanish, Italian and Austrian,
Belgian and Dutch,
Luxembourger, Romanian,
Yugoslav and Hungarian,
we have fought against the SS,
against the Nazi criminals,
for our freedom.
A single thought inspires us:
our cause is just
and victory will be ours.
That is why we swear,
on this scene of the Fascist crime,
before the world,
that we shall not give up
until the last culprit is sentenced
by the court of all nations.
Our ideal
is the construction of a new world
of peace and freedom.
We owe that to our murdered comrades
and their families.
Raise your hands and swear
to show that you are ready to fight.
Third prize:
the second-year students
from the Watteau High School,
with their teacher Mr Bruno Schar.
Second prize:
the Guillaume Fichet High School seniors
in Bonneville,
with their teacher Mrs Joséphine Chaufour.
Congratulations.
Finally,
the first prize in the collective contest:
the first-year students
of Léon Blum High School,
with their teacher Mrs Anne Guéguen.
Léon Blum!
Long live Créteil!
Who's the boss?
Mrs Guéguen!
For those who didn't hear,
I'm Mrs Guéguen.
To start the year, let's set some rules.
Remove your earbuds
along with your caps.
No chewing gum in this class.
Put it in your pocket,
hold it in your hand
but I want no chewing.
All right?
I teach History and Geography.
I'm your advisor teacher too.
I also teach Art History
to those who've picked that option.
Someone last year
said that was a dumbass subject.
We'll come back to that.
I've been teaching for 21 years.
I like teaching.
And, on a general level,
I'm not the morose type.
All right?
Of the 27 students in the class,
20 passed the baccalaureate with honours.
Malik is a screenwriter and actor.
Anne Guéguen still teaches History
at the Léon Blum High School.
Léon Zyguel continues to bear witness.
Hello, Nadia. Madam.
What's the problem?
I don't understand. I came yesterday
and I was told I couldn't come in
to pick up my baccalaureate diploma.
Why?
You know why, Nadia.
Why?
Because of your hijab.
But she's not a student here anymore.
She passed with top marks.
For the administration, you're still a student here.
You must follow the secular law.
You must remove your hijab.
I won't.
It's my belief.
I can't just take it off!
Why are you here?
I passed my baccalaureate.
As a student in this school.
I'm not in class with a teacher who's giving me a lesson!
You're on school premises.
Hijabs are not allowed in school.
I respected the law for three years.
Why not respect it one last time?
- You're afraid?
- No.
Afraid of the responsibility.
Give her the diploma. No one will know.
The law is the law.
Sure, the law is the law in France!
I'm proud to be Muslim and wear this!
- Ladies!
- Hello, Principal.
Mrs Flamant was clear. You have two options.
Either you carry on
like the last three years
or you go to the exam centre
to get your diploma.
This is blackmail! It's scandalous, sir!
I'm not taking my hijab off! I'm sick of explaining!
You can't even see
this belief comes from the heart!
I don't do it to annoy you!
It's her right.
Now you have two options.
They're never going to understand! Never!
Lift the veil off your eyes, sir!
Tristan Laifa...
Management Science
with an Art History option.
Camélia Haddad...
Economic Science with Art History.
Ma'am?
I wanted the European option.
Piss off then!
Your request was turned down.
Your marks were probably too low.
Théo Darmois...
Economic Science with Art History.
Geek!
Koudjiji Sissoko,
Economic Science with Art History.
Thomas Sorrel...
You forgot me.
I said
it wasn't in alphabetical order.
First years 1, 2, 3 and 4
enter in silence.
Thomas Sorrel...
Take the cap off, please.
The others too.
Your caps.
Your caps, please!
Take off your cap.
First years 5, 6, 7 and 8, wait to be called.
Come on.
Good morning.
Earbuds, miss. Cap, young man.
Cross inside your sweater.
Hijab, please.
Caps off, boys.
Management Science, Sailing option.
Sailing!
Malik Diaby...
Economic Science, Art History option.
I never picked that dumbass subject!
- What did you pick?
- Cinema.
I'm afraid you failed the casting call.
Julie...
Julie Mauret,
Economic Science with Art History .
I wanted European.
Sorry, the reply's the same.
Miss...
Miss!
Cut it out, she's calling you.
Without earphones, you might hear me.
Your name, please?
Mélanie.
Take this place
here at the front, please.
I can't see close to.
Sit here.
Shut up, I can't see.
I'm not very "frontline".
You'll be all right. Come up here.
Clam up, you!
Silence, please!
If you didn't hear,
my name is Mrs Guéguen.
Big Ben!
I teach History and Geography. I'm also your advisor teacher.
I've been teaching 20 years and still like it.
And, on a general level,
I'm not the morose type. All right?
The guy's good.
Not like that middle school dumbass.
Don't be a Jew, I haven't eaten.
- Here.
- Thanks.
No French teacher yet.
Rudy, Olivier, books aren't optional.
Bags down, coats off.
Thomas, your cap, please.
Ilyan, your bag.
You're stuck here 50 minutes so get comfortable.
The class is at 8, not 5 past. Go and sit down.
Yo, Malik!
Go, Saïd!
Your cap and earbuds.
Look at that poor cow.
Check out Julie...
Julie, that T-shirt's no good.
It's a big problem. The headband too.
I bet her pussy stinks too.
AD plus DC makes AC.
Yes, the double translation of A to D and of D to C
gives the AC vector, Chasles' relation.
It's very important.
- Put that away.
- It's not dry.
We'll see who dries up in next week's test.
Carry on, Julie. A parallelogram...
I'll give back the test.
Six or seven have 10 out of 20 and sixteen have less than 5.
There's nothing in these.
You find that funny?
As you laugh, the others move on.
The race has begun without you.
You're left standing.
There's a world out there with a place for you.
But...
I'm talking to people
who pretend to listen or see me.
I'm here. Do you see me?
Do you?
What is it, Mélanie?
I didn't get my canteen card stamped.
Too late.
How do I eat?
Not my problem. The others manage.
Screw that!
I wasn't expecting a reply.
You don't give a shit.
Nor a comment. You're wrong, I'm right. Sit down.
See me after.
Sit down!
In the Middle Ages,
religion uses images
as a means of expressing faith.
What is found in churches?
Holy wafers.
Tympana.
You studied the one in Conques in middle school?
Tympana?
Tympana? Eardrums, like?
Tympana are arches
over the front door of churches
with carved images.
This is the Torcello mosaic from Italy.
What do you see at the top and the bottom?
- Avatars!
- A weirdo!
Up here, important characters.
Angels and this blue character on a throne.
A king!
With dogs' heads. Probably Satan.
We're in hell.
You keep ignoring me!
I'm sorry.
Big tits don't attract us all!
Cut it out!
Mélanie, I'm listening. Quiet.
- I'm listening.
- Forget it.
So who is in hell?
- Bad guys.
- Those who hurt others.
Who are the bad guys?
- Koudjiji?
- Christ's enemies.
Christ's enemies. Look. Here you can see
a barbarian chief,
with a bishop, a princess
and, some experts say, Mohammed.
- What?
- What're you saying?
What shocks you?
I'm outta here.
- Sit down, please!
- This is bullshit!
Max, sit back down.
They've got no respect for us!
- Think about it.
- That’s haram.
Mohammed isn't in hell!
Is she kidding? She can't say that.
Put Rihanna there, Koudjiji too but not Mohammed!
Mohammed can't be shown!
Where is this image?
In a church.
- Aimed at...
- Christians.
At the time,
who were the Christians fighting?
The Arabs.
- Islam.
- Islam, yes.
Where does their enemy go?
- In hell.
- In hell.
That's why Mohammed's there. Your reaction's interesting.
It proves that this image works.
It makes you react
because it's a propaganda image.
No image is ever innocent.
Does anyone know where
and with whom
19th century Romanticism was born?
Romeo and Juliet!
Léa, can you tell me
who wrote "Romeo and Juliet"?
Cut it out.
Not every time, Julie.
You don't even know that?
What a disaster.
With my other class,
I'm already doing Realism.
Shakespeare.
Yes! Quiet back there!
Yes, Shakespeare. About time.
Shakespeare was what century?
Théo, what century?
He never speaks, ma'am!
No one rang for you, Rudy.
16th century, Shakespeare. What century is this?
21st!
Don't talk to me!
Malik!
Cut that out right now.
I'll smash your face in!
I'll waste you, motherfucker!
Think I'm scared? I'll waste you!
I'll waste you anytime!
Your report books.
Mélanie...
I want your report book.
I'm talking to you. Hand it over.
No way, I'm not handing it over.
He fucking started it!
Put that phone away!
I'll see you after school, damn biatch.
I've had enough of you, Mélanie.
What'll you do later on?
The dole for life!
Ok, I've had enough. Get out of my class.
You bet I will. Screw this fucking dump.
Get out!
Shut the fuck up!
Just close the door and go.
They ain't Romeo and Juliet!
As for you Malik...
I've just about had enough. This isn't the first time.
Taking the same path as Mélanie?
You want to fail too?
Ask Rudy! I did nothing!
Malik, it's not the first time. Stop it.
You play the innocent every time.
Stop it.
Do page 28 for next week.
Page 28 on a sheet of paper to be marked!
Sit down and calm down!
Anyhow, you'll never get anywhere in life.
If the second term is like the first, you'll have no choice.
You understand, Malik?
What's your goal?
The cinema option,
is that what interests you?
Cinema?
I don't know. Maybe.
You dream of quitting school?
No.
Do men and women sit on the same side?
I've never been in a church.
Didn't even know I could.
It's ok, Malik.
We'll stay together.
Take out your sketchpads and follow me.
C'mon, move.
Not so loud.
Make her prettier.
They didn't do her eyebrows.
I'm giving her lipstick.
I hope she didn't pay the artist, he did a terrible job.
That sucks!
What are you doing?
Warming my hands.
Where's your sketchpad?
Over there. I'll fetch it.
Shit, you eat too much ham!
I'm alone on the pitch!
Fucking salami, piss off.
I eat pork, I'm no Muslim.
That's why you smell like shit!
Come back!
Screw this, I'm gone.
- Joe! C'mon.
- I'm at the synagogue.
- What's up?
- No idea, he's wired.
Hello. Shanah Tovah.
How are you?
- Everything ok, Camélia?
- Yes, fine.
She's so fresh.
Let's play.
Malik. Thanks for coming.
Hello, Mrs Levy.
I need to ask a favour of you.
We're off to Israel,
so Elvis needs looking after.
I'll pay you.
What do you say?
The thing is...
Elvis is such a good boy.
Right, Elvis?
Shabbat shalom.
It's nice and warm.
Eat well, my son.
I'm off to work, Malik.
Where is it?
- Wait for me?
- Don't worry.
Who's that?
Who are you?
- Hello.
- What's that?
I'm Mrs Flysmith...
Flysmith?
Where's Mrs Guéguen?
Where is she?
She's had a death in her family.
Ma'am!
You're not wearing a ring!
I'm not married.
Lying's bad, you know.
Cheeky girl!
It's not funny.
It's sad.
We understand?
Listen!
We can waste the hour.
Simon says, "Under desks!"
Your report book!
"On chairs!"
Your report book!
I didn't do nothing!
Simon says, "Stamp feet!"
You're real babies.
De...
mo...
cra... cy
in Athens!
Bring me that phone!
Bring me that phone!
Fuck off, you're not my mum.
Simon says, "Play the fly!"
This class is a nightmare.
- Go on, cry!
- Cry!
Need a Kleenex?
Hello, Anne.
Not too tough?
No, I'm ok.
Hi, Anne.
Sorry I couldn't make it to your mum's funeral.
You're in for a shock.
Your class is a disaster.
There've been
three disciplinary reports.
Things might be complicated with them.
Democracy's meaning has changed over time.
Greek democracy
is the power given to each citizen
to judge and decide.
Can you slow down?
The Athenians liked a random draw
as the Gods played a role in that.
In an election,
they feared the winner
might feel empowered to stage a coup.
This system is the basis of Athenian democracy.
We have five minutes left.
I'd like to talk to you.
I've been thinking about a project for us.
A contest.
- A beauty contest?
- No, Léa.
Not a beauty contest.
The National Resistance and Deportation Contest.
The what?
Every year, 50,000 students
do the contest in France.
Sounds geeky...
Shut up and listen.
She busted you!
I would really like...
I would really like us to take part as a group.
All together.
Yes, Julie?
What do we need to do?
A document or a presentation
developing your ideas on the given theme.
It's a bit of extra work.
I'll give you the theme anyway.
It's the holiday soon, I don't need this.
No way.
Just wait and see.
Only if it's on DiCaprio.
Children and adolescents...
Too long.
...in Nazi concentration camps
We know nothing about Nazi kids.
No, William, it's about the children who were victims
of the Nazi system.
There's nothing funkier?
It's off the programme but you looked at
World War Two in middle school.
- Yes.
- No, we never saw that.
Bullshit.
- I was sick that day.
- Not true.
We can do it from scratch
but that's not the important thing.
What's the subject about?
Well...
Kids and all.
The war?
Théo?
Hitler and stuff.
The Jews, ma'am.
- Ilyan?
- That bastard Hitler.
The Aryan race.
What's that?
Blonds with blue eyes superior to everyone else.
Hitler is dumb too.
He's dark, short, with brown eyes...
Not blond with blue eyes.
Yes, you're right. And?
- The war...
- The concentration camps.
- Ilyan?
- The gas chambers.
- Henda?
- Death.
Julie?
The Shoah.
Can you tell us what the Shoah is?
- The extermination of the Jews.
- Exactly.
- Ma'am?
- Yes, Thomas.
Why always the Jews?
Jews don't really concern many of us.
Ma'am, I have some Coke.Jew want some too?
I won't have that.
It's a joke.
- Chill, it's just a joke.
- Not.
No, it's not. No joke is innocent.
In legal terms, that's a racist remark,
punishable by law.
Would you be happy if the punchline
was Chink, Buddhist, Arab or Black?
Sorry, but there's a limit.
Olivier...
Read us the subject, please.
Olivier?
My name's Brahim now, ma'am.
You're Olivier Frémont, whitey!
On the class register, I have Olivier.
To change it, see the administration.
Read the subject, please.
"Children and adolescents
in Nazi concentration camps."
Children and adolescents.
No religion, no nationality.
They could be Dutch, German, French...
Jewish children died in the camps,
not French ones.
French Jewish children.
And French Gypsy children.
Ok.
60 million died in World War Two,
half of them civilians.
6 million Europeans died
just because they were Jewish.
300,000 for being Gypsies.
This is not a test.
It's not marked.
Can you help us?
Of course. The school librarian too.
What's your goal?
You know we'll screw up. Why're trying to shame us?
Why do say that?
You know very well
we're not up to it,
so why do you want us to do it?
Complaining again, saying everyone is pointing at you.
You play the lame ducks.
You have no self-confidence.
The Euro class would jump at this.
We have other stuff to do!
I'm not doing it!
I'm not either.
It's funny, I have more faith in you than you do in yourselves.
I think you have a great deal to say about this.
She doesn't give a shit about you!
Are you serious?
She only wants to show off by enrolling dumbasses!
I want to learn stuff, ok?
You want to learn stuff?
- Don't even speak to me.
- It's ok, I won't!
Dumbass! Shut your mouth!
This class leads in unjustified absences
in relation to others in the year.
We have 173 unjustified half-day absences,
84 cases of lateness.
Behaviour is no better.
31 students expelled from class,
48 hours of detention,
4 cautions and 2 temporary suspensions.
The class malfunctioned all the first term.
The class has delayed all progress
and we now have around ten students who have more or less given up.
The overall outcome is disastrous.
Any remarks from the student delegates?
No.
Parent delegates?
I wasn't supposed to be alone...
I've had several calls
concerning some students' clothing.
Parents asked...
I've spoken to several parents.
This isn't the place...
What are you referring to?
Long skirts and hairbands.
Sorry but those skirts are worn only by certain students.
Elsewhere, there have been suspensions...
I'll be clear about this. Let me speak, please.
I see more than 1,000 students a year and as many fashions.
Short, long, mini, maxi,
G-strings and others,
I don't view a long skirt
even worn by a Muslim student as a religious item.
Despite suggestions, I won't suspend a student for that reason.
Now then...
Rudy Aloa.
Generally poor, many remarks on his attitude and absences.
- A caution?
- Definitely.
Max?
Rudy's dad is in hospital.
He has his brothers to look after.
Thanks, we know about Rudy's dad.
It's systematic.
Nothing but excuses
and mitigating circumstances.
The class is full of that.
Important choices are made this year in the second term.
After, it's too late.
Looking at these reports,
I'm not betting on the outcome.
Well, I think Rudy's improving.
You do?
He began with 5 in every subject.
Now he's moved up to 8.5.
We're a little perplexed...
To say the least!
Camélia's not coming?
I don't know.
In any case,
it takes two to compete collectively, so we're ok.
I'll give you the subject again.
- Sorry, I got the wrong room.
- That's ok, Yvette.
Everyone here?
Small teams do good work.
You're Julie?
And you're...?
Théo.
Good.
- Hello, ma'am.
- Hello, Koudjiji.
- Here we are.
- We had nothing else to do.
Hello, ma'am.
- Hello.
- Hello, Max.
We came to check it out.
Max said there were snacks.
Max gave us the wrong room. It's B11, not D11.
Are we gonna win?
We may not win
but at least you're here.
But we might not stay.
We'll see.
I don't want to be alone.
We'll try.
It'll be tough.
We'll see.
All right...
What do you know
about concentration camps?
They're camps
where you concentrate.
Or not.
What a jerk.
You can spare us that.
It's not my crap joke, ma'am.
People are mistreated there.
They work too.
What?
Yes, that's right, they work.
An old-style Job Centre?
Shut your mouth!
Koudjiji?
A forced labour camp.
There were forced labour camps
and extermination camps.
Were there concentration camps in France?
No, not in France.
We were the good guys.
We'll see how good we were.
There were internment camps in France.
Do we have to note this?
No, this isn't a class. It mustn't be a class.
Don't learn history, understand it.
Well said!
9-2 to Yvette.
The other day,
Julie mentioned the term genocide.
What does that evoke for you?
You learnt it last year.
We learnt nothing.
What happened when a family arrived at a concentration camp?
Women, children and men were separated and killed in turn.
If they could work or not.
That was called selection.
They were selected.
It's an important subject because who's exterminated first
to eradicate a people?
The weak.
Women and children.
- Not just that.
- What do women do?
They reproduce.
Children and women
are likely to perpetuate a people.
- Horrible.
- That sucks.
Do you know other genocides?
- Koudjiji?
- Rwanda.
- With Corneille?
- I'm sorry?
A genocide victim.
The singer.
His parents died in the genocide.
All right, Max, that'll do.
I know one.
The genocide in Algeria.
- In Algeria?
- The Harkis.
Olivier, that wasn't a genocide.
Brahim, please.
We've talked about that.
- Palestine.
- He's right.
It's not a genocide.
It is!
They're doing the same thing.
Listen to Yvette!
Can someone tell me
the difference between genocide
and a massacre,
a massacre in wartime?
Everyone's massacred.
In both.
What's genocide?
It's when everyone the same is killed.
She's not entirely wrong.
It's when people of the same religion or the same colour
are all killed.
Genocide is the physical extermination,
planned and systematic,
of a group because of its origins.
That's what's happening!
That's not the case in Palestine.
Is the same thing over there!
The conflict with Israel
leads to massacres and war crimes
but Israel has not made the decision
to exterminate the Palestinians. See the difference?
We can't know.
The media lie to us!
He's right!
No other society
has built gas chambers.
Only the Nazis did that.
They were part of a deliberate plan.
Maybe there are different methods.
Maybe they had no budget. You never know.
Have you heard of the word "Shoah"?
Yeah!
What does it mean in Hebrew?
On a hot day, I take a shoah.
Max...
In Hebrew, Shoah means
"annihilation".
To achieve that, they use the energy
generally deployed to uplift humanity
to destroy a people.
We'll return to that later.
Now then, the subject
is about children and adolescents.
How old would the children be?
Children and adolescents.
- Including babies?
- Yes.
- Babies?
- That's not funny.
No, Max, it's not funny.
Ma'am, it's 10 to. Can we go now?
Yes, but for next time
try to think about the way
you want to tackle the subject.
- Ma'am?
- Yes, Jamila?
How can we talk
about dead children and adolescents?
They're not here
to tell us what they lived through.
Yes, it's a tough subject.
But they left traces.
All kinds of documents.
Yvette will be a big help.
If you want,
you can read Anne Frank's diary.
She was an adolescent
who hid from '42 to '44
in Holland with her family in an apartment.
She started writing this for herself
but then she heard on the radio one day
that everyone who was hiding should write
for posterity, to bear witness.
- She died in Bergen-Belsen.
- No spoilers!
I also have "No Nomads Allowed" on Gypsies.
I have a graphic novel...
Awesome!
- We'll take it.
- The four of us!
- "Auschwitz"...
- No!
Another interesting thing is to work in groups.
That can be enriching
because you can pool your research
and end up with much more material to work on.
And think hard about the way
you feel about the subject.
It's your thoughts that matter here.
The way you react
to this subject.
- You're not with us, Olivier.
- I am!
Stop, I told you! Stop.
Get off my back.
Who're you talking to?
When I tell you to stop, you stop, ok.
You need to obey.
We already warned you about your clothes.
Did we warn you or not?
Wanna play the slut? Ok, live with it.
Come play the slut with me.
Filthy slut, that's what you are.
Don't worry, we'll be back for you.
Remember that, slut.
Excuse me.
Is it reasonable to do the contest with that class?
I don't understand
what you're aiming for.
With a better class, it would be logical.
I don't get it.
They're so far behind already. And now this contest...
For me, you're wasting time
better spent on more deserving students.
- Besides...
- What?
29 communities live in harmony here.
I want things to stay that way.
You understand?
I fear so, sir.
Goodbye.
Now try to think what was going through this adolescent's mind.
Ma'am!
Anyone can print out pages and pages of Wikipedia.
But you, Léa, Jamila, Henda,
what do you want to say about it?
You can do better than that.
It's not bad.
I'm not saying it is but you can do better.
Can you come here?
- Yvette?
- Yes, Max.
We saw the photos on the web. They're scary.
They're like the living dead.
Yes, I know Max.
What have you prepared?
We've done the best work for sure.
But it's on Rudy's flash drive and he's sick.
Yes, sure, blame the absent.
Always blame the absent.
I wasn’t born yesterday, ok.
Get to work now, not tomorrow.
- Yes, William?
- Can I show you this?
Yes.
What has your group worked on?
We worked separately.
Show us, William.
Look what William has done.
Cool, isn't it? Right, ma'am?
Don't you like it?
Can you explain it for us?
These are all arms...
with numbers.
They're from the camps.
Ok...
Men, women or children’s arms?
No idea. I just printed them out.
What do these numbers correspond to?
They're all different
but what's behind these numbers?
And don't say arms!
What's behind them?
Prisoners.
But why numbers rather than names?
Names are longer to write.
William, it's great
to have an original idea.
But without more content,
it doesn't work. You understand?
That goes for all of you.
I see nothing but style.
All you talk about is the style but never the document's content.
Maybe we're not up to it.
Who said that?
Not up to what, Théo?
Not up to talking
about a subject like this.
Properly, I mean.
Does anyone agree?
Then don't talk like students.
Talk like children, adolescents.
With all your differences and sincerity.
I know you're up to that.
But this is good. You're making progress.
Dopey talks now?
You're going to class?
You're playing the tough guy with the beard and all.
Malik!
See you later.
- Salaam, bro.
- How's it going?
Everything cool?
You missed the mosque.
Are you shitting me? You've been Muslim a week.
- Lecturing me now?
- No.
You don't know shit about my life. Stay out of it.
I didn't see you at the mosque last night, that's all.
I was worried, it's cool.
Remember, Olivier ate pork a month ago.
Quit laughing, guys.
Olivier belongs to the past. The name's Brahim now.
You're still Olivier for me. What's the problem?
You're the problem, not Olivier.
What a joke.
Look how you fit in
with a jellaba at school!
What's the problem?
How d'you ride a bike in it?
I hike it up and pedal. Why?
You already had a hard time getting on.
Cut it out. Who are you to judge?
You're losing your way, bro.
You're trying to make me look like a bad Muslim here?
I'm just reminding you.
Reminding me?
You can keep your reminder.
Malik!
Can I help you?
No, it's ok.
Looking for something?
No, I said. My mistake.
It smells ancient here.
Mrs Thomas?
Is the outing far from the shopping mall?
I don't think so.
Can we go after?
We'll see what time we have.
What do you have?
The children of war and peace.
We've found...
a poem by Primo Levi from his book.
Yvette, I took your advice.
I loved Schindler's List.
I'm glad you saw it.
You like films like that?
It's a real tough guys' movie.
I bet you cried.
If I did, that shows my human side.
No, just that you're a faggot.
- Maybe he pretended to.
- He cried.
Tough guy...
Enough...
Olivier, the others have been here
20 minutes.
You miss every other session.
Make your mind up.
Ma'am!
- Yes?
- It's not fair.
We worked on the Gypsies. They've done the same.
Ours is better. Take that down.
What does that mean?
Shut up, you geeks!
We can do it too!
Calm down now...
Shut up!
Stop!
All right...
I'll start again.
When I suggested this contest,
I said I wanted us to work as a team.
You know what that means?
When you play soccer,
you play in a team, all right?
You pass the ball.
That's team work.
I always see the same groups.
You don't exchange anything
or speak to each other.
Why didn't you ask Gabriel
if you wanted more information on what he's doing?
Why don't you go to see Gabriel?
Why not ask what he's done?
It would be more interesting if you exchanged information
instead of quarrelling.
Just small groups
working on different things.
"I'm the best, the others are useless."
You don't talk or listen to each other!
When you talk, you insult each other! You call that team work?
This is hopeless!
And you make me shout. It's boring.
I AM AN EXCEPTION
Where's that from?
A book I read.A Child in Auschwitz by Maurice Cling.
He tells his story and how he survived.
Not many children survived?
No, Théo, not many.
Can I borrow it?
Can I borrow the book?
Julie...
- What's it called?
- A Child in Auschwitz.
Is it good?
I don't know.
Fucking negro piece of shit!
What did you just say?
I didn't say nothing.
Let's see what you say to the principal.
No one touches me, get it?
Bitch!
Touch me and I'll waste you!
Don't touch her!
Fucking bastards!
Screw you, you fuckers!
I'll get you, you faggots!
Still good this weekend?
You thought I'd say yes?
You asked Farah, she blew you off.
Wasted you, dumbass.
I've never even spoken to Farah!
I know you tried it on.
Hello, boys. Telephone.
This might interest you.
I hate reading.
You can read?
Of course, I can. Shut up.
She busts my balls.
B
BE
BER
BERG
BERGE
BERGEN
B
BE
BEL
BELS
BELSE
BELSEN
B
BU
BUC
BUCH
BUCHE
BUCHEN
BUCHENW
BUCHENWA
BUCHENWAL
BUCHENWALD
D
DA
DAC
DACH
DACHA
What're you doing?
Learning to read.
THE JEW AND FRANCE
Here you can see
the journey of the trains from the internment camps.
All the way to Poland,
crossing Germany and Czechoslovakia
to reach the concentration camps.
There's rage and there's anger.
You also think that there has to be
someone to relate all that
without realizing
you'll be the one saved.
He told me,
"Speak or you don't deserve
to have come back.
Someone else should have."
If you want to go...
We'll go some other time.
With 225 kilos of corn,
you can fill a car's tank or feed a Mexican
for a year.
Ma'am? What do we do
if the Mexican has a car?
Before you binge on chocolate,
remember that mankind's future is...
- In a bowl of rice!
- As rotten as ever!
Enjoy the holiday.
You're nuts, holidays are a drag.
Bullshit. We can play soccer.
I'm hot for it.
- How's Elvis doing?
- He's ok.
Have you eaten?
Not hungry.
The ceremony was dignified and solemn,
like this new member
of the Académie Française.
Three French presidents saluted
the woman joining the Académie,
Simone Veil,
who spoke of her parents
who died in deportation.
My thoughts never leave my mother,
day after day,
more than 60 years after she vanished
in the hell of Bergen-Belsen.
I think of her,
along with my father,
also sent to the camps
and who died in the Baltic states.
Simone Veil,
survivor of the Shoah,
a leading feminist
and steadfast politician,
praised by the novelist Jean d'Ormesson.
A large majority of French people worships
the icon that you have become.
What typifies you
is your courage.
And the French love courage.
"She died on March 15,
while I was working in the kitchens.
In a way, I've never accepted it.
Mother is at my side every day
and what I've achieved in my life,
I owe to her."
Jamila?
Tell us what you've worked on.
Everybody listen.
When we were at the Memorial,
we thought about this poster we saw
and that class
about that mosaic in Italy.
And we thought this poster
could be the starting point
for our document.
Tell us why.
Well...
Why am I doing all the talking?
You told us
there were no innocent images
and, if you look closely,
the children next to Pétain
seem to be protected.
It says, "Once upon a time,"
like in a fairy tale.
He looks like a kind grandfather.
A superhero with his medal.
If you look closer,
you see
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
is replaced by
"Work, Family, Nation".
In your opinion,
what's the difference
between one "slogan" and the other?
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
are rights
but also French values.
And the others?
"Work, Family, Nation",
they're things we have to do,
duties, like.
It's a beautiful idea, girls,
to use that poster.
Do you all agree?
Yeah.
Bullshit.
Rudy, I think you wanted to talk about
a drawing by Pascal Crocci?
It's a page from the graphic novelAuschwitz by Pascal Crocci.
We've seen loads of photos
of the concentration camps,
horrible photos
of what went on at that time
but I noticed we'd seen no photos
of the gas chambers.
Probably because no one survived.
Photos, Malik...
Ok. Here we go.
This is a photo
that we saw at the Shoah Memorial
and, if you take a closer look,
you find it in Crocci's book.
Here's what the artist shows:
a gas chamber,
this inside of a "shower".
But one thing surprised me.
What’s that?
He's shown them
with hairstyles and clothes
when, in theory,
their heads were shaved
and they were naked to take a shower.
For me, having clothes
and your own hairstyle
allows you to have your own identity.
So I think that's the artist's message.
He's giving them back their identity
to show that they were unique
and had their own lives.
The opposite of what the Nazis did
by erasing their identity
in order to trivialize...
their death.
It's all shit.
We're going round in circles.
Always the same thing.
Enough.
We're making good progress.
Shut your mouth!
Watch it!
- What did she do to you?
- Stop!
What's your problem?
What did they do to you?
Wanna settle it?
Yeah, I do.
That's enough. Cut it out!
Shut your mouth, whitey.
Sit down!
Think you're tough?
That's enough.
Sit down.
Jerk.
Shut your damn mouth!
You can't help it, can you?
After two months, we're still here?
I've invited a camp survivor.
I might cancel.
I couldn't bear any disrespect.
Let's make things very clear.
Anyone who wants to stop
can stop.
Right now.
I'm outta here.
Get lost, we don't need you.
See you, dumbass.
Go on, get lost.
Move it.
Right, let's carry on.
Yume? Clara?
It's ok if you're not quite ready.
Camélia!
I have to go.
Hello, Mr Haddad.
I'm a bit emotional.
Sorry, I see some fine faces
in front of me.
My father was arrested in '41.
He was one of the 4,500 men
who were arrested by the French police
and taken to the Drancy camp
near Paris.
We, the three children,
were arrested in August '42.
Imagine the despair of a father
who has spent a year
in a concentration camp
in appalling conditions
when someone tells him,
"Hey, Zyguel, three of your kids
have just arrived at the camp."
When we arrived in Poland,
the doors were thrown open.
To my 15-year-old mind,
my life had been turned upside down.
I didn't know where I was.
The interpreters arrived and told us,
"All men aged between 16 and 50,
get off the train."
I was only 15.
My father and my brother got off.
I got off with them
and the train continued,
carrying off
the elderly and the children,
the women too.
My sister,
who had been arrested with us,
was on that train
that left for Auschwitz.
We never saw her again.
They called me so I went.
Like I was told, I went into the hut
where I found the prisoner
who was going to tattoo my number.
I stepped up to him
to tell him I was Zyguel.
I laid my arm down on the table
like this
as he was looking
at his lists and numbers.
He told me,
"From now on, you'll be 179 084."
Then he turned his head
and realized that he had
a child's arm in front of him.
He looked up
and stared at me for a few seconds.
That can feel like a long time.
Then he said,
"I'll do something good for you."
Then he started marking the numbers
and said,
"There, you're number 179 084."
1...
17...
179...
179 0...
179 084.
In the morning, the siren sounded.
We had to go to the square
for roll call
and take with us the comrades
who had died during the night
and put them in front of us
as we stood in line.
We also took
the others who couldn't go on.
They were so tired, they couldn't stand.
They would look at us
with such suffering in their eyes.
They knew they were going to die
but they wanted to live.
My father wasn't a very strong man.
One morning,
we had gathered for roll call as usual,
ready to leave for work.
The head SS officer
arrived with a sheet of paper
and had the following words translated:
"Those prisoners whose number I call
will stand to one side on the square.
They are going to be sent
to the health camp.
They will be cared for
and will catch up with us later."
But we knew there was no such thing
as a health camp.
Anyone who was sick
was sent to Auschwitz or Birkenau
to be burned or gassed.
The officer started calling the numbers
and, at one point,
called my father's number.
We didn't want to show
our grief to the SS men.
Holding our tears deep inside,
we said, "Dad, goodbye,
they'll take care of you
and we'll see you soon."
But we knew it wasn't true.
He played the same game.
"Don't worry, boys,
they'll look after me. I'll be back.
We'll be together again."
He knew it wasn't true.
He left and we never saw him again.
That's how it happened.
In the concentration camps,
what did you cling to
to keep going
and to stop yourself from giving up?
Personally,
I couldn't imagine I was going to die.
I was convinced that I'd make it,
that I'd survive.
I was 15
and told myself, "I'm 15,
when I get back
to the Boulevard de Ménilmontant,
and see all my old friends again,
when I tell them
everything I've been through,
they're going to say,
Léon is a tough one."
I just wanted to show off.
The tiniest thing
that could help you cling to life
had to be grasped and used.
Life...
Dignity...
You have to fight for that.
The important thing
is the permanent struggle
against racism.
During that period,
I learned the true value
of friendship and solidarity.
Did religion help?
Did you believe at the time?
No, I'm an atheist.
Ok.
I don't believe.
I believe
in mankind,
like I believe in you
who are here today.
I don't think there's a God.
"Those of us who have survived
and who have witnessed
the barbarity of the Nazis,
have observed
with impotent rage...
the death of our comrades.”
Some things are hard to take.
"The final crushing of Nazism
is our goal.
Our ideal
is the construction of a new world
of peace and freedom.
We owe that
to our murdered comrades
and their families.
Raise your hands and swear to show
that you are ready to fight."
And, still loyal
to the Buchenwald Oath
proclaimed on the roll call square
on January 29, 1945,
I'm here today.
So it's almost 70 years
since I took that oath
and I try to pass it on
to anyone who will listen to me.
He still has his tattoo?
You bet, it's there on his arm.
It was crazy. Totally awesome.
Would you like to sit down?
To think we show off,
if we ride a wild rollercoaster.
With all he went through,
it was the same for him.
Too bad you weren't there.
Ma'am, she offered you her seat.
Rudy...
Camélia...
Clara...
Malik...
William...
Jamila...
Gabriel...
Koudjiji...
And me.
Sorry we're late.
Hello.
What's changed here?
We did a draw, like in Athens.
One group's sorting information,
archive and testimony
and one's working on the layout.
Then we'll write it.
What are these drawings?
Thomas Gève was sent to Auschwitz
with his mother.
He was 13 but looked older
so he was judged fit for work.
His mother was sent to Birkenau to die.
These are the four main dangers
in the camp.
The one that surprised us
was the infirmary.
He drew a skull above it.
The infirmaries were dangerous
as Léon told us.
- Ma'am?
- Yes?
Malik has a great idea.
So tell us, Malik.
We were thinking
that through all the books,
films and documents,
it's like making encounters.
Now, we talk about Anne,
Hélène, Maurice, Thomas
and, of course, Léon.
We have photos of those we've seen
or that we'll meet before we finish.
And, once we finish, I thought
we could release balloons
with their names to thank them.
Great idea, man.
Wonderful.
Léa?
Which team?
A strange world indeed
where children with yellow stars
were banned from parks like dogs.
For a year, I had been excluded
from Paris parks.
What a shock.
A summons.
We all know what it means.
I could already imagine
the camps and isolation cells
and that's where Dad was to go...
Like most people,
I don't want to have lived in vain.
I want to be useful to those around me
yet don't know me.
I want to live on even after my death.
Is she still a woman
after losing her name and hair
along with her memory,
eyes vacant and blood cold,
like a frog in winter?
Do not forget this happened, ever!
Engrave these words in your hearts.
I was a very insolent child.
I couldn't bear it and I still can't.
I was always
impertinent and insolent in class
and I still have within me
a strong temptation to be insolent.
Nothing can or must be forgotten.
Beyond the horror,
only the dead matter.
The gas chamber
for women, children, the old,
for those with scabies,
who limp, who look unwell.
Slow death for the others.
2,500 survivors
out of 78,000 deported French Jews.
Only the Shoah.
I'll never forget the smoke and stench
of the Birkenau furnaces.
You had to defend yourself
or, very quickly,
life slipped from your grasp.
And I think that's how I was
of use to them.
Because I was harder.
I've made some cakes for you.
Do I mention the second part
in the presentation?
No, just mention her strength.
Life is hard.
We're in danger all the time,
but if we perish, if we die,
we'll die like human beings.
As for Father and Mother,
I decided to stop thinking about them.
Despite all I heard,
with the confusion around their fate,
I still cling
to the mad hope we'll be reunited
if I miraculously escape this hell.
I was 13.
All I had seen were dead people
and corpses.
I knew nothing else.
At times, history and life are ruled
by a merciless law that goes as follows:
"Give to him who possesses,
take from him who has nothing."
My carefree, superficial nature
precedes my deeper nature
and always prevails.
Little star,
do not light the German's path,
so that a Jewish child
and a Gypsy child may live.
Mother was so brave.
She held back her tears
but, even so,
seemed disheartened and sad.
She said to me, "My son, promise me
you'll take good care of Annette.
Be her father, her mother
and her big brother.
I'll die on the journey."
Marshall Pétain?
Done.
- Maurice Cling?
- Done.
- Simone Veil?
- Done.
- And Léon Zyguel?
- Done.
What's wrong, Max?
They could've been saved.
The French kids...
the Germans didn't want them.
Not under 16!
That bastard Laval
sent them to join their parents,
who were already dead, burned
and no one did anything!
No one said anything!
He killed kids and babies.
They could've been saved.
- Simon Veil, page 24...
- Why has it stopped?
"Open door 3 of vertical transporter."
What's that?
No idea.
I don't know how it works.
I don't know either.
Try opening that.
What does it say?
- That's not it.
- "How to remove staples."
That's not the transporter,
it's the staple remover! Close it!
What does it transport?
It says "Open door 3
of the vertical transporter"!
I have to get all this to Paris
by this evening!
What's the vertical transporter?
This damn photocopier has never worked!
- Another emergency?
- Yes.
Go on then.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
You'll have to wait.
"I AM AN EXCEPTION"
Calvin develops considerations
on predestination.
He thinks everything is settled
before birth.
God decides for each man
if he goes to hell or heaven
before his birth.
That sucks.
Calvin also condemns images
because he thinks they lead to idolatry.
For next week,
look at the document on page 193
and do a list of European countries
with a single religion
in the late 16th century.
All right.
Now...
I have something to say.
I'm proud of you.
Thank you, ma'am.
In fact...
I'm very proud.
Whatever the outcome of the contest,
we took this all the way to the end.
You took it all the way.
All together.
There.
For the Art History group, remember
the bus for Brussels leaves tomorrow
at 7 am.
All right?
Life is beautiful.
Destiny shies away.
No one plays the same cards.
- The cradle's veil shifts.
- The roads lie ahead.
Too bad,
we weren't born under the same star.
Why fortune and misfortune?
Why was I born broke
when his pockets are full?
Why does my dad ride a moped to work
when his wears a suit
at the wheel of his BMW?
Have fun with Camélia.
No worries.
Filthy Jews
- Have a good day.
- You too.
- Hello, Malik.
- Mrs Levy, I have to run.
- Have a good day.
- You too.
He's overdoing the perfume...
There’s this bird that flies so high
his wings freeze
and he falls into a field.
He’s dying of cold
but a cow shits on him
and he wakes up.
He starts crying for help.
Just then, a box...
No, a fox passes by,
hears him and eats him.
What's the moral of the story?
Someone who shits on you
isn't always your enemy
and your saviour isn't always a friend.
When you're in the shit,
keep your mouth shut.
Your joke sucks!
Nearly there!
It's beautiful!
- Beautiful
- Look up there.
Is that gold?
Come on, we're waiting!
Hello.
Théo, come and see.
Let's get this for Mrs Guéguen.
Pretty brooch.
- How much?
- 50 euros, a good price.
Let's get it.
5 euros each.
Come on, Rudy!
Go on, man!
Go on, man!
I win! I win!
You next, Théo.
Go on, Théo!
Théo! Théo!
Go, Théo!
You're the best!
I'll do the roll...
- Rudy?
- Present.
- Mélanie?
- Present.
What's in the envelope?
William?
Present.
- Théo?
- Present.
What's that official envelope?
- Malik?
- Ma'am, please!
Go on, Théo...
Open it, I'm too nervous.
Go on, Théo.
Come on!
Hurry.
Stop smiling and hurry up!
Hurry it up.
Come on!
As finalists in the National
Resistance and Deportation Contest,
you are invited on June 18 at 5 pm
to the award ceremony
at the Ecole Militaire
in the presence
of the Minister for Education,
Youth and Community Life
and the Secretary of State
for War Veterans.
I don't believe it.
An official invitation...
Mr Minister,
Mr Secretary of State,
ladies and gentlemen,
Paul Eluard wrote:
"If the echo of their voices fades,
we shall perish."
For that reason,
the National
Resistance and Deportation Contest,
launched in 1961,
matters more than ever.
It allows young people
to hear those voices.
They learn civic lessons
for their daily life
and reflect upon their responsibilities.
I wish to thank all the teachers
who volunteer
to assist their students
and thus carry out a civic task.
A task of remembrance.
A first-year high school student
from Créteil's Léon Blum High School
will now read the Buchenwald Oath.
We, the detainees of Buchenwald,
have gathered here today
to pay tribute
to the 51,000 prisoners
murdered at Buchenwald.
51,000 fathers,
brothers and sons died.
They died in agony
for fighting the regime
of the Fascist killers.
We, who have survived
and who have witnessed
the barbarity of the Nazis,
have observed with impotent rage
the death of our comrades.
One thing helped us to survive:
One thing helped us to survive:
the idea
that justice would return one day.
Today, we're free.
Today, we're free.
We, the prisoners of Buchenwald,
Russian, French, Polish, Czech, German,
Spanish, Italian and Austrian,
Belgian and Dutch,
Luxembourger, Romanian,
Yugoslav and Hungarian,
we have fought against the SS,
against the Nazi criminals,
for our freedom.
A single thought inspires us:
our cause is just
and victory will be ours.
That is why we swear,
on this scene of the Fascist crime,
before the world,
that we shall not give up
until the last culprit is sentenced
by the court of all nations.
Our ideal
is the construction of a new world
of peace and freedom.
We owe that to our murdered comrades
and their families.
Raise your hands and swear
to show that you are ready to fight.
Third prize:
the second-year students
from the Watteau High School,
with their teacher Mr Bruno Schar.
Second prize:
the Guillaume Fichet High School seniors
in Bonneville,
with their teacher Mrs Joséphine Chaufour.
Congratulations.
Finally,
the first prize in the collective contest:
the first-year students
of Léon Blum High School,
with their teacher Mrs Anne Guéguen.
Léon Blum!
Long live Créteil!
Who's the boss?
Mrs Guéguen!
For those who didn't hear,
I'm Mrs Guéguen.
To start the year, let's set some rules.
Remove your earbuds
along with your caps.
No chewing gum in this class.
Put it in your pocket,
hold it in your hand
but I want no chewing.
All right?
I teach History and Geography.
I'm your advisor teacher too.
I also teach Art History
to those who've picked that option.
Someone last year
said that was a dumbass subject.
We'll come back to that.
I've been teaching for 21 years.
I like teaching.
And, on a general level,
I'm not the morose type.
All right?
Of the 27 students in the class,
20 passed the baccalaureate with honours.
Malik is a screenwriter and actor.
Anne Guéguen still teaches History
at the Léon Blum High School.
Léon Zyguel continues to bear witness.