During
the Communist era, teachers were supposed to serve as the state’s first line of
indoctrination. Of course, most disbelieved the propaganda they repeated by
rote. However, Maria Drazdechova, teacher of history and Slovak, also serves as
the local party chair. That makes her uncharacteristically zealous and
decidedly dangerous, so when she makes it clear she expects favors from her
students’ parents, most of them simply comply. Unfortunately, her abuse of
power causes a tragedy that will force the parents to choose a side in Jan
Hrebejk’s The Teacher (trailer here), which opens this
Wednesday in New York, at Film Forum.
On
the first day of class, Drazdechova has each pupil stand and tell her what
their parents do for a living. The purpose is obvious. She wants to know what
they can do for her. The repercussions are also quickly apparent. The parents who
deliver goods and favors receive tips as to which study problems their children
should give special attention to. Those who cannot, will see their children
punished, like Danka Kuncerova, a bright student-gymnast, who is regularly
shamed and belittled in class, because her father, a back-office accountant at
the airport, is unable and unwilling to call in favors on her behalf.
When
the pressure finally breaks Kuncerova, it gives the decent head teacher an
opening to call an emergency parents meeting. As they argue and deliberate, we
witness Drazdechova’s tyrannical classroom behavior in flashbacks. However, the
Communist teacher’s partisans clearly have the advantage. Besides the Kuncerovas,
her most vocal critics are the highly problematic parents of Filip Binder, the
wrestling prodigy who has a crush on Danka. The unlikely wildcard might turn
out to be Vaclav Littmann, a former academic reduced to menial labor after the
defection of his wife. Much to his discomfort, Drazdechova has made her
romantic interest all too evident, but that also put him in a position to
witness her full manipulativeness.
The Teacher is an emotionally
grueling film, because it shows how Drazdechova strikes at her victims’ weakest
spot: their children. It is one thing to stand up to do the right thing when
you will be the only one to face the consequences and quite another when your
son or daughter stands to take the punishment. They end up with a classic
prisoners’ dilemma—it is in their collective interest to stand against Drazdechova,
but individually, they each have an incentive to knuckle under.
Zuzana
Maurery is absolutely chilling and enraging as the venal Drazdechova. One
minute she adopts a butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth façade and the next she
lashes out at her young charges with emotional savagery that will turn your
stomach to ice. Frankly, it is such a disturbing performance, because it is so
true to life. Likewise, it is truly harrowing to watch Tamara Fischer’s
breakdown as Danka. Yet, the film’s real heart and ethical soul is supplied by
Martin Havelka as Filip Binder’s gruffly remorseful beat-first-and-ask-questions-later
father Jaroslav.