THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE – Review by Nikki Fowler

İlker Çatak’s German thriller The Teachers’ Lounge is a raw donut into the classroom/teacher dynamic where what is usually defined as a safe space in which students are nurtured and educated, is truly at times a petri dish of real-world antics, including racism, crime, cheating, violence, stereotypes, bias and social chaos at some of the most important developmental years of one’s life and it’s not always coming from the students. No one knows this better than parents on the receiving end than many minorities, including the Turkish family whose son is blamed early on in the film for crimes being investigated when it’s discovered that his wallet has extra cash. He is called out, and his parents are summoned with what seems like a valid excuse on why he had the extra money in class, but is the damage already done? The drama doesn’t end there. These acts, along with many others, sometimes done on purpose or through unconscious bias, can leave a whirlwind of childhood trauma and ostracization. Bias in classrooms is real, and this film stirs those real-life disparities. The Teacher’s Lounge evokes an understanding that grade school is a flawed institution that at times begs to be seen as righteous and all-knowing and the importance of challenging the why and the how, on the way some, at times, condemn students and accept teachers or adults as the correct and final word. We really don’t find an answer to the crimes in this thriller but we do stir important questions on humanity. The film has an incredibly slow build-up of tension that replicates the slow-moving pace of a school system that will eat itself alive to protect the institution riddled with bias and have you questioning whether everyone really does “mean well.” Carla Nowak breathes hope into this well-directed film with great cinematography as a math and phys ed teacher, Leonie Benesch, who tries to live on the edge outside of those that make up the core of the institution.