The Teacher Who Promised The Sea * * * ½

Good Morning Class.  I'm your new teacher and I'll be with you for a short while,
probably until the Nationals arrive.

This is a film that did quite well at the recent Spanish Film Festival.  It's on main release now. (That is, if you call a couple of Art House cinemas main release).

In some ways it reminded me of Parallel Mothers which is another film that addresses the exhuming of unmarked graves in Spain. A legacy of the Civil War.

There is a modern story of a young woman who obsessively wishes to find out what happened to her great grandfather for the sake of her grandfather before he dies.  

Perhaps I missed something but I couldn't figure out why she is so angry and obsessive about it.  Like who amongst us has more than an historical interest in those from two generations ago?  They are strangers. But she is carrying on like it was an immediate family member taken from her yesterday. 

Anyway, we find out what happened to him because we go back to the time and place. 1936, a village in Spain where a teacher is sent to replace the outgoing teacher. He introduces a new way of teaching and inspiring the children.  It's the usual situation of the new teacher/boss/coach being held in suspicion until his methods are proven and the village have to finally acknowledge he's doing good.

She can find out little about her great grandfather but she learns a lot about the teacher and her grandfather's and great grandfather's relationship to him and the impact he had on their lives.

He is in no way a radical but his caring unorthodox means of teaching mark the teacher as a Republican and and enemy of the Nationals, who think they can improve Spain by murdering and intimidating people and burning books.

It's an affecting film which left me inspired by the Teacher and his methods and saddened by the agony of Spain at that time.