Class Enemy

The Slovenian entry for this year’s Oscars®, CLASS ENEMY is a taut and thought-provoking drama. Robert Zupan is an icy, black-clad high school teacher who takes over when a class’s homeroom teacher goes on maternity leave. Zupan wastes no time telling the students what he thinks of them. They are unfocused slackers who will amount to nothing if they don’t decide what they believe in. His bright, passionate, and unruly pupils connect his insistence on order to his subject—German—and soon they’re accusing him of being a Nazi. After a classmate kills herself, Zupan becomes a symbol for all the things in the “system” the students hate. They take over the radio station, fight, and refuse to attend class. When their parents come in for a meeting with the principal, it’s obvious where the kids get their uncivil behavior. With battle lines drawn, we realize no one is blameless for what happens inside—or outside—the classroom. (In Slovenian and German with subtitles) —B.B.