The Teacher * * * *

The Teacher is a film set in Czechoslovakia in the 1980's when Czechoslovakia was Czechoslovakia - and overall a rather depressing and frustrating place to live.

She'd give this review a D minus

The Teacher tells the story of a typical self serving Communist party delegate who was also a teacher at the local school.  She was a monster. She manipulated and exploited the children and their parents - constantly asking favours from them. By no other means could the children get good grades.

The film is set at a parent teacher meeting where the parents have come to complain of her conduct. As they reluctantly air their concerns we flash back to their story and the individual exploitation of themselves and their children.

The teacher is a woman who is so horrible you ache for retribution to be delivered upon her.  She wouldn’t get away with that in Western Democracy we think.

But in the end she is dealt with in a way rather similar to the way our Department of Education often deals with teachers of similar incompetence and corruption. So it seems whatever system we have, rooting out, and getting rid of problem people isn’t always easy.