L'Ecole Buissonniere (The School Of Life)

Soon after the Great War, the Provence village of Salezes gets a new boys' teacher: Mr. Pascal, a war hero with a diploma from a teachers' college. He rejects old methods: boys' sitting still with arms folded memorizing facts. He uses modern methods: he becomes their guide. The boys build a water-powered electric generator, interview their parents about shoe-making and cooking, draw, write poetry, and, after Pascal brings a box of type, put their own magazine together, printed on the backs of old ballots. Their new interest in critical thinking stirs opposition from the mayor and others. The t...