Review: Favoriten

Immigrant children learn German in an elementary school

The 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival is on and I managed to catch a film while here -- and with YTSL no less!

We watched a documentary called Favoriten by Austrian director Ruth Beckermann that follows a class of mostly immigrant students and their teacher in an elementary school in a district of Vienna called Favoriten.

The film follows the premise that in Vienna's elementary school system, over 60 percent of students don't have German as their first language.

The students reveal honest, raw emotions

The students are from various places, like Syria, Turkey, and Ukraine, and they learn German together as it is the official language in Austria needed for work. 

These children are wonderful subjects, as they have a range of emotions and the way they talk reveal their thought process, their upbringing, or cultural background.

Their teacher is young and kind. She wears heavy makeup, and casual clothes. Not only does she teach them the curriculum, but also helps them resolve disputes with fellow classmates. She reasons with them or encourages them to apologise or to explain the incident, not only as a way to get them to speak more German, but also to learn how to get along with others. 

One girl accuses a boy sitting at the same table of bothering her; she claims he is talking non stop, but he denies it. Another more serious accusation is when a girl says the boys accuse her of having lice and they hit her, but they vehemently deny it. The teacher says they cannot accuse her of this when she doesn't have lice and adds that when she was a girl she had lice too, so what's the big deal?

Viewers watch the children visit a mosque and many of the students are Muslim and are proud of their religion. Another time they go to a Catholic church, but no one in the class is Roman Catholic. They also go to swimming class and in a funny scene they kids learn parts of the body, including words like penis and vagina, and point them out on the drawing projected on the wall.

The teacher (left) tries to reason with the pupils

It's also interesting to watch the teacher interact with the children's families in parent-teacher interviews. Some parents can speak German, while others rely on an older child to translate; overall they are grateful to the teacher for teaching their child. Most of the parents are keen for their children to integrate into Austria as much as possible, while one expresses reservations and considers taking his daughter back to Turkey. Perhaps he is tired of discrimination or doesn't feel welcome in Vienna.

Favoriten follows the students over a few years with the same teacher so they have become very close. When she meets with each child to go over their test results -- not even an exam, each one has a different reaction that's honest and emotional; one child bursts into tears, stressed out and devastated that the viewer can't help but feel for him.

There is also a hint of the strain of resources in the school system, as the in-house counsellor has been assigned elsewhere and a psychologist won't be coming anytime soon; there aren't even enough teachers to teach which is concerning.

Nevertheless it's a heart-felt film, with a lot of honest observations and emotions thanks to the children who speak their minds, while their teacher tries hard to help them peel away biases and help them to become more confident and happy in their new hometown.

Favoriten

Directed by Ruth Beckermann

118 minutes