164. Playground (Un monde); movie review

 

PLAYGROUND (UN MONDE)

Cert 15

72 mins

BBFC advice: Contains brief strong threat

Oh, gosh, the painful memories of schooldays came flooding back during Laura Wandel's Playground.

Childhood supposedly represents the best days of our lives and, in some ways it does but school was, for many of us, a complete horror.

Thus, the bullying and loneliness of this film made uncomfortable viewing - especially as it is seen through the eyes of a seven-year-old.

Maya Vanderbeque is astonishing as young Nora who is faced with a ghastly conundrum when she witnesses awful attacks on her older brother (Günter Duret).

Her immediate reaction is to tell her teachers but they seem little interested and her brother insists that the attacks will become worse if she does.

Thus, as his prophecy is fulfilled, she feels duty-bound to protect him and turn to her dad (Karim Leklou).

The truth is that resolutions are not easily found in either this fictitious playground or those in real life.

Indeed, those who have been bullied can sometimes become the bullies themselves in a desperate attempt to become part of the in-crowd.

Gradually, Nora understands the school politics and, ultimately, what will be best to help her fit in and this may result in her having to forsake the love of a brother who had previously been close.

These are hard lessons to learn for young children and they had long remained dormant in the back of my mind until I watched Wandel's movie.

Now I am torn between whether it was necessary therapy or it has unearthed skeletons which would have been better remained buried.

But what this film certainly did was move me.

And that could not have been done without a superb script, thoughtful direction and high-quality acting.

Reasons to watch: Incredibly accurate

Reasons to avoid: Rekindles bad memories

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 9/10

Did you know? In the UK, Section 89 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 requires schools to determine measures to prevent all forms of bullying. This means that all schools should have in place, and annually review the effectiveness of  their anti-bullying policy. Schools should act promptly and firmly to combat bullying.

The final word. Laura Wandel: "I wanted adults to remember what it meant to arrive in school and to be a child in that environment. But I also think that children from the ages of 10 to 12 can definitely watch the film. In France for instance, I already had some reactions from the audience from children who watched the film, and it helped them verbalise things with their parents." Awards Radar

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