Bad Apples: A dark comedy on classroom control and burnt-out teachers

I thought I wanted to be a teacher for a long time. I tutored for 7 years from the age of 16 and taught students aged 3 to 18 and loved it. The kids were for the most part engaged and ready to learn, but for the rest? Forced to be in the weekend classes to prepare for the 11+, SATs, GCSE’s and A-Level’s. And some felt the pressure of getting the best grades they could. When I applied to the Teach First graduate scheme, I was told that it was incredibly difficult from friends who tried it and from others, that the kids would eat you alive. Needless to say, I chose a different career. When I looked through the LFF programme, I knew I had to watch Bad Apples. Bad Apples is Jonathan Etzler’s English language debut starring Saoirse Ronan in the lead role as Maria. Maria is a primary school teacher struggling with the disorderly behaviour of one of her students. After one of her students is injured on purpose, she makes a series of morally questionable decisions.

If you have been educated in the British school system, this film will be a little trip down memory lane. There were certain parts of the film that stood out to me. The incident that leads to Maria locking Danny in her basement starts because of an incident at school. Maria asks a girl to walk with Danny to spare her trouble dealing with his unruly behaviour. And Danny’s response is a violent one. Often at school, seating plans and moving students around the class focused on well-behaved girls being sat next to boys who had behavioural issues. An early form of socialisation which put the onus on women to mitigate the impact of the behaviour of men. I could understand why Maria did it. She’s frustrated, Danny will not listen to her and will swear and scream at her. She has raised the potential of moving Danny out of her class or to a new school with her headteacher, who tells her behaviour management is part of her job. And that is the issue. Nobody senior enough cares to sit in on Maria’s class to observe it first-hand, help her and provide her with tips as seasoned educators. And it hammers home a key issue in the education system. Behaviour has worsened in schools. Behaviour management often forms the main part of the role. Students who create disorder, who are violent and act out often do so for reasons. Yet, the system in place does not address the root issues. Students are suspended or expelled. And for students in the class who behave, they do not have the full attention of their teacher. It’s a cycle which continues, in the hopes that students will mature.

Bad Apples takes absurd and dark turns which work because of the performances from our main actors. Saoirse Ronan steals the show as Maria, as she does in all of her performances. At first, when we meet her, she is tired. She is worn down by the disruptive behaviour of her student Danny. He swears at her. He swears at the other children in the class. They poke at his outbursts. She’s contending with his behaviour and the job of teaching 20-odd students. You cannot help but be sympathetic to her. When she begins the day at school, she’s excited! Keen to shown her kids not what’s on the syllabus, but music and poetry. In a scene where she shows her class a verse from a poem (it may have been a song, my memory is shaky!), I could not feel anything but despair and sympathy for her. In Dead Poets Society, John Keating has a similar approach to his students. He focuses on poetry instilling the love for the English language and the ways we construct phrases, we organise words and draw on our experiences to produce beautiful pieces of art. His students are receptive. Saoirse Ronan is not as fortunate as John Keating to have students who are receptive to this ideal.

They fail to answer her questions, in a scene which will remind you of awkward silences in classes. At school, I felt compelled to stick my hand up every time a teacher asked a question to an unrelenting silence. One student even questions Ronan’s Maria as to whether this would feature on their SATs. In an exchange which will remind you of the importance of OFSTED ratings at school, exam results and league tables. Bad Apples works as a satire about school which takes the form of a dark comedy, because moments like these exist in the film. Saoirse Ronan’s performance is subtle and this is why the film works. Not overly dramatic, but a realistic depiction of what life must be like for teachers struggling with their classes. Her feelings are conveyed not by screaming or shouting, but with subtle facial movements. The droop of her face as her students are boisterous, the nod she makes to herself as they fail to respond understanding she has lost their attention and that buildup of frustration, the feelings of helplessness against the unruly behaviour which fuels her choices to lock her student, Danny in her basement.

The other two performances worth discussing are those of Danny and Pauline. When we meet Danny, we cannot help but dislike him. I hesitated to write that as it sounds incredibly unfair to talk about a child like that. But he is mean, foul-mouthed and violent. It’s hard to sympathise with him, because he reminded of the boys in my class who disrupted my learning, bullied me and were unkind to my friends. It’s an interesting watch as I went to a mixed-gender school from 3 to 13 and then in Year 9, I went to an all-girls school where my experience was much better. Classes were smoother, there was significantly less disruption and I didn’t have mean boys interrupting my day. But as the film goes on, I felt awful for disliking his character. It is clear that Danny is struggling, because he doesn’t have a parental figure as his Father is out working all day as a delivery driver. He has little oversight and he struggles in school. He doesn’t have a loving or warm home to get back to. When the school bell rings, he goes on alone. This provides us with the full picture of his behaviour and why he acts out.

Pauline is a character I saw parts of myself in. At first, she’s a really sweet, quiet and studious young girl who is perceived as weird by her classmates. She loves her teacher and is keen for her approval. I was very much the same at school sometimes, I really liked my teachers and behaved really well, put my head down and I just enjoyed being a well-behaved kid who did well in school. Thankfully, I do not fully relate to Pauline, as her character takes a sinister turn. In her limited screen time, we learn so much about her. She has parents who do not understand her, who think she is weird for being a dreamer and loving literature and music the way she does in contrast with their practical and work-focused upbringing. As the film progresses, her appreciation and love for her teacher becomes obsession. Maria is relatable to Pauline, she loves poetry and art and music, unlike her parents. She sees more of Maria than her parents, who are not present. I saw part of myself in her, because she for all accounts was a good and well-behaved student. But she is lonely, does not have friends and has parents who do not care for her. I was fortunate enough to have friends who were nerdy and geeky as I was, four siblings in a boisterous household and two parents who loved me and got my interests, even if they didn’t share them. The differences between myself and Pauline really do illustrate how Pauline’s appreciation for her teacher becomes obsession. Maria is the only person in her life who feels like a genuine role model who gets her.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film. As I’ve said, there are incredible performances all around from Saoirse Ronan and the host of students who form her class. It took me back to school and I felt it was an honest and faithful depiction. My one gripe with it, is that it does have an incredibly absurdist ending. Many extraordinary events happen and I was sat in shock and disbelief as the story goes on. However, this is based on a novel so it may be a case that it is faithful to that ending. I would recommend seeing Bad Apples in cinema. You do not need the best sound system or biggest screen, but you need a busy screening amongst others. In my press screening, there was a lot of laughter, shock and it felt like a very lively atmosphere.

Sorry this took so long! I had to cut LFF short by 5 days, went to the hospital and the toilet in my house share malfunctioned, so it has been a tricky week for me. I have a couple of more pieces around LFF left, which I’m excited to share.