To Be And To Have

Nicolas Philibert's simple but deeply touching documentary — a surprise hit in its native France — pays tribute to a most unlikely celluloid hero: George Lopez, a humble, soft-spoken schoolteacher in the tiny Auvergne village of Saint-Etienne-sur-Usson. Determined to make a film about rural France's one-room schoolhouses, where children ranging in age from 3 to 12 are taught by one teacher in a single classroom, Philibert (IN THE LAND OF THE DEAF) contacted over 300 schools before deciding to spend a term with Mr. Lopez and his students. All 13 come from Saint-Etienne-sur-Usson and its surrounding farms, and aside from a brief interview during which Lopez a...