Les Choristes and Coach Carter Start January with a Bang

When this approach works, the results can be stellar. From The Blackboard Jungle (1950) to To Sir with Love (1967) to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) to Dead Poets Society (1989) to Mona Lisa Smile (2003), countless writers and directors have done their best to enliven the genre. While some have met with success, the vast majority have unfortunately fallen into overly-familiar mediocrity. And yet filmmakers continue to try, putting pupil and educator at odds again and again no matter what the probability against success appears to be.

With the arrival of not one but two teacher-themed movies hitting theaters this weekend, it doesn’t look like this trend is going anywhere soon, at least not as far as 2005 is concerned. What’s most astounding, however, isn’t that these two movies; France’s Les Choristes (The Chorus) and Paramount’s Coach Carter; have been made, it’s that they’re actually worth the effort making the trek to the Cineplex to see. That’s doubly amazing considering the date, films released in the first few weeks of January usually dogs studios want to see die a quick and painless (and hopefully box office fruitful) death.

Not that either film cuts new ground in the genre. If anything, both rely heavily on the clichés inherent in these kinds of pictures to get their points across. And yet, in both cases that doesn’t end up mattering too much, the restrained and subtle power of the stories at their core managing to come to the forefront thanks to some deft direction (at least in the case of the first) and astonishingly powerful performances (both of them).

Set just after World War II in 1949, Les Choristes tells the story of a French boarding school for wayward boys (whose name translated into English just happens to be “Rock Bottom”) and the former classical musician and teacher recently arrived as an administrator. What Clément Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot) finds is a disheveled mess of an institution run with an iron fist by the school’s principal Rachin (François Berléand). His motto: Action-reaction, and the entire institution is managed with just this type of despotic indifference.

But where Rachin sees a bunch of Neanderthals headed for ruination, jail or worse, Mathieu only sees a school full of directionless troublemakers looking for someone to show them life can offer something better. He discovers the opportunity to do just that when he overhears many of the boys singing little ditties of their own creation. Suddenly, the failed former composer finds his creative juices starting to bubble over, turning the children into a choir and writing new music composed especially for them.

Well, not exactly them. It’s really for a particularly troubled lad named Morhange (Jean-Babtiste Maunier), a boy with the face of an angel, the voice of a dove and a penchant for getting into trouble. The lad’s singing voice is earth-shattering, and Mathieu finds it criminal to let such a talent go to waste. The rest of the boys see it to, suddenly doing their best to develop into something cohesive and strong not only for their compatriot’s success and future, but their own as well. Even when Rachin, in a fit of rage and maniacal melancholy, disbands the choir the group continues to meet in secret, inspiring both teacher and student to heights neither thought capable.

Les Choristes simply shouldn’t work. The story is beyond banal and the clichés involved go beyond even the most routine these genres almost always offer. And yet I was moved, sometimes deeply, and the film builds to truly splendid final that left me in gently (and justly) earned tears. Co-writer, co-composer and director Christophe Barratier (handling his first full-length feature) shoots things through a misty, sepia-tinted lens using his abandoned castle locale to beauteous efficiency. More, he lets the film’s drama come almost on its own, very rarely pushing the audience’s buttons trying to manipulate us into emotions which simply aren’t there.

That’s not always the case. Barratier is just too inexperienced behind the camera to hold back completely, and there are a few moments (especially early on) where the compounding clichés almost become too much to bear. He’s not helped by Berléand, the usually reliable French stalwart overacting with Machiavellian glee. Luckily, the children (mostly unknowns) are exceptional and both newcomer Maunier (who does all his own singing) and Jugnot are spellbinding. Their scenes together sparkle and sizzle with a combination of world-weary wisdom and unbridled juvenile winsomeness speaking to both circumstance and future aspirations with furtive panache. Of course, in the end it is the music which is the real star, Barratier and Bruno Coulais’ themes and choruses majestically soulful in the best sense of the word.

Music plays a big part in Paramount’s Coach Carter, but don’t let all the MTV beats and R&B jamming fool you, this biopic about an inner-city high school basketball coach isn’t just another hip-hop music video montage with a few jump shots and slam dunks littered along the way. In 1999, Richmond High School turned its boys’ basketball program around with the hiring of local business man and former school standout Ken Carter. Instilling a sense of sacrifice, teamwork and pride into the team, Coach Carter leads the young men to a perfect 16-0, landing them in the state top twenty and on the shortlist of schools capable of winning the state title.

But that’s not the story. The real one came next, right on the eve of the school taking on one of their chief arch rivals. At the start of the season, Coach Carter had the student-athletes sign a contract stating they’d where ties on game days, sit in the front row of all classes and maintain a 2.3 GPA, a full .3 higher than the state mandated requirement. When members of the team fail to meet this standard, their coach does the unthinkable, locking the kids out of the gym and canceling all games.

Director Thomas Carter (no relation) travels a well-trod road (we’ve seen much of this before, most notably by Stand and Deliver in 1988) and hits more than a few speed bumps along the way. Then again, as the man behind Save the Last Dance, Metro and Swing Kids I’d expect nothing less. Luckily, he’s got three very big aces up his sleeve. The first is the astonishing true story adapted wonderfully by writers Mark Schwahn and John Gatins. The second is the stern, solemn and galvanizing portrayal of the title character by actor Samuel L. Jackson. Last, he’s managed to find a group of youngsters whom so effectively encapsulate their inner city characters I could almost believe he picked them up off the street and plopped them in front of the camera. Collectively, they make for a mesmerizing two-plus hours.

What’s most impressive, however, is how easily the director manages to take clichés from sports underdog stories and student-teacher dramas and intertwine them so effortlessly. There is no surprise to Coach Carter (other than an ending those unfamiliar with the real story will find unexpected), but that doesn’t matter near as much as it probably should. The message of this picture is crystalline; student-athlete should always come in that order, sports above else sends the wrong message, too much money complicates and destroys the system; and those with aspirations on the playing field will find themselves astonished to see where the real victory here is won.

Much of it is far too shallow, of course, and Carter films it like a music video unfortunately diluting some of the power inherent in both the performances and the message. It doesn’t help some of the subplots go on far too long or that a few of the supporting performers (most notably Ashanti, who should stick to singing) are borderline terrible, while some of the twists and revelations made by the characters seem to be coming straight out of left field. But Jackson really does command the screen, the boys playing off him with an effortlessness that’s completely believable. Every scene between them all works so much better than they really have any right to, and whether they be the requisite training montages or a familiar piece of fatherly pontificating, I came away wanting to both see and hear more.

So while neither Les Choristes nor Coach Carter push the limits of either their genre or cinema itself, they still manage to be early-year winners. It is nice, for once at least, to see good movies in January that aren’t holdovers from the previous season. In this case, one shoots, the other sings, both score.

Les Choristes: êêê  (out of 4)

Coach Carter: êê1/2  (out of 4)

Release Date: 01.14.05

Reviews Posted: 01.14.05

Director: Thomas Carter

Rating: PG-13

Distributor: Paramount

"The Chorus"

Starring: Gerard Jugnot, Francois Berleand, et al.

Director: Christophe Barratier

Rating: PG-13

Distributor: Miramax