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Some of the best films about Education to watch

I haven’t seen all of the films on this list. Many are available through streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime or by purchasing DVDs. Some are available via Youtube.

If you have suggestions for films that should be added, please make them in the chat / comments (with a 1/2 line synopsis) and I will keep updating this list.

Of those I have seen, I would recommend :

Not One Less (China). A brilliant and moving account of a substitute teacher in remote rural China (she is only 13 herself) who tries to ensure all children complete her class, even going to the lengths of hunting down a boy who absconds to the city.

The First Grader (Kenya). A true story of an 84-year-old who tries to return to primary school when free education is announced. It covers the brutal suppression of the Mau Mau uprising by the British. Moving story, well-acted.

Taare Zameen Paar (India). Explores the experience of a child with dyslexia, his confused family, resistant school, and the teacher who encourages him to celebrate his strengths and others to see his abilities.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Malawi). Based on a true story of a poor boy who uses his school learning, passion for engineering and tinkering with old electrical items to solve the long-standing irrigation problems of his community. New generation learning solves old problems.

Blackboards (Kurdistan). An astonishing film from Kurdistan about itinerant teachers moving from place to place carrying blackboards on their backs and hustling to find learners in order to earn a living.

Lunana : A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan). A sweet story about a teacher, reluctantly posted to a remote rural village. The teacher’s gradual understanding of the impact learning can have for these poor children, without discarding tradition and place, is done without an overdose of sentimentality.

Difret (Ethiopia) : A powerful dissection of the issue of child marriage in Ethiopia. It made national and international waves and won the Sundance Audience award and the Berlin Audience award in 2014.

Bad Genius (Thailand). A story about slippery slopes. Small copying steps spiral into a major attempt to cheat on SATs which is discovered. The film feels morally ambiguous until the end, but even here leaves room for questions. Worth a watch.

School Days (Malawi). A bit raw, but an interesting insight into school life in Malawi that highlights bullying, misogyny and violence in schools.

Noor (Pakistan). A short film (17 mins) made by Sightsavers about a girl with undiagnosed visual impairment. Compelling and well made. (There are several other films also called Noor, search “Noor Sightsavers” on Youtube).

The Uniform (Iran) - a lovely short animation from Iran about girls, uniforms, authority and control

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Others which have been recommended by readers of Re Education, include :

12^th Fail, Guthlee-Laddo, I am Kalam, Super 30, Black – all from India

Radical, Tesoros – from Mexico

The Teacher’s Diary – Thailand

On the Way to School (Global) – not really a movie, but a feature length film following the journeys of four groups of schoolchildren on their hazardous and arduous journeys to school.

Colours of the Alphabet (Zambia) - Recommended by Camille Makunganya Alsop. Film / documentary about languages at school. See her description here.

Entre les Murs (France) - Recommended by Katarzyna Kubacka.

Tanvir Muntasim maintains a list of 67+ films where education plays an important role ; global south and north. See here.

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English language mainstream films about issues in education (not exhaustive, only those I have seen) :

The Silent Child (UK) – a short, and very effective, film made by Sightsavers about a hearing impaired child in the UK.

Dead Poet’s Society (USA) – A bit sentimental, but a must if you work with teachers. “Carpe diem !”

Etre et Avoir (France) – A brilliant French film, (and a surprise box office hit), about a single room school in rural France. Originally made as a documentary, it’s slow and warm and gives real insight into multigrade teaching. Very sad after-story : the teacher and the parents sued the filmmaker claiming they should have been paid, but lost.

Detachment (USA) – Adrian Brodie stars as a melancholy supply teacher in a failing New York school. Suffering from personal ghosts he seeks to make a living teaching English without emotionally connecting with his pupils or fellow teachers. He fails of course. Good film, if a little depressing.

History Boys (UK) – a film that hasn’t aged well in terms of social attitudes, about a group of boys from a northern school trying to get into Oxbridge. Some clever set pieces.

Gregory’s Girl (UK) – set in a Glasgow secondary, a very funny, warm and wise film about a gawky teenager falling in love. Brilliantly made – a must see.

To Sir With Love (USA/UK) – Sidney Poitier film about a teacher in a rough London East end school, winning hearts and minds.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (UK) – watchable for Maggie Smith’s performance alone, but also a classic film about impressionable minds and hearts and the power, and fallibility, of teachers.

Old School (UK) – not yet seen

Freedom Writers (USA) – not yet seen

Goodbye Mr Chips (UK) – not yet seen  

Monsieur Lazhar (France) - not yet seen

Alam (Morocco) – not yet seen

There’s a whole separate genre of education drama on TV, that I haven’t covered here. The UK seems particularly fond of this genre - see here for a list of no less than 23 (and one Danish one, Rita).