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Once in a Lifetime (Les Héritiers), a simple and touching story
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The audience knows very well the fondness of French filmmakers for dealing with those social issues that concern citizens. At the present, some movie theaters in Spain are screening Hippocrates, a French film that tackles the problems of the public health system in that country.
Based on real events, Once in a Lifetime immerses us in the serious lack of discipline that a History teacher has to face daily in her classroom. Anne Gueguen (Ariane Ascaride) is a woman who loves her job and does not think to give up in front of an unmotivated, rebel and multicultural group of students with serious social problems. She knows her work is not only teaching history but also instilling in them the respect for the different cultures, religions and freedom of speech. So, she uses The National Resistance and Deportation Contest, which is organized in France every year, to encourage the class to study the situation of children and teenagers in the Nazi era. It will be from the research and reflections on this subject, that her students become aware of their reality, accepting differences and respecting the ideas of others.
Thanks to the collective work, this group that was intolerant and hostile in the beginning will become creative, and motivated people united on a common project. So, these students are the real stars of the film; hence the French title Les héritiers (The Heirs) is most appropriate. It refers to these new generations that seem unaware of their origins.
Despite starting from the topic of the willing teacher who makes the best for her students, Once in a Lifetime leaves this classic scheme. It proposes that the integration of the group will be possible through studying, in this case, a historical crime where there was not tolerance and respect.
Texts: Núria Farré. facebook@cinemaperaestudiants.cat
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