Film Review: It All Starts Today

Director: Bertrand Tavernier

With the current political landscape completely mired in talk of recession, budget cuts and government deficits. The cost of living is increasing whilst wages are stagnant, it is leaving a lot of people in poverty especially in poor towns up in the North of England. It All Starts Today is a French movie released in 1999 set in a small Northern town in France that is suffering from the same economic malaise, the rundown housing in the towns are almost identical to what you would see around any city in the UK. Its a film that has become even more relevant since its release and centers round the suffering the children at a kindergarten go through as their parents have no money.

Daniel Lefebvre (Philipe Torreton)

Philipe Torreton is simply incredible as the headteacher Daniel Lefebvre of the small kindergarten that is suffering due to overcrowding in classrooms and a lack of funding from the local government. The local mine has shutdown meaning the loss of thousands of jobs for the local people. He is constantly forced to go beyond the call of his job to help pupils who are sent to school with no food or are being bulled by other pupils or even their families. Throughout the film you can see the losing battle that the teachers are facing as more pupils fall into poverty whilst a government turns its back on its problems.The interactions between Torreton and the pupils were filmed 'as live' and involved a lot of improvisation as the children just responded like they would do in a classroom rather than it being rehearsed beforehand.

The disgusting squalor that some children have to live in is truly shocking and depressing. This is a film that packs a real emotional and political punch as we starkly follow the struggles of the town with families having there electricity and gas cut off just ahead of winter by energy companies to pressure them to pay. The local mine has shutdown meaning the loss of thousands of jobs for the local people and naturally there is no assistance for the town to help those most in need.

4/4 Truly stunning and touching film