‘Teachers’ Room’, the ending explained and the director’s keys to deciphering one of the best films we have seen recently

As usually happens every year, the Best International Film category at the oscars it is more interesting than many of the titles nominated in the general category. Although ‘The Zone of Interest’ won in the end, ‘Teachers’ Room’ was one of the toughest rivals.

The German candidate presented us with a powerful story full of tension, with an ending that It left many unknowns that we will analyze in this article.. Furthermore, although the director has not given a concrete explanation about some of them, he has revealed some clues about his approach to it.

Obviously, this article is full of spoilers from ‘Teachers’ room’

The director’s explanation

Like ‘Anatomy of a Fall’, in ‘Teachers’ Room’ we are presented with a mystery that, in the end, is the least of it. From the beginning, what catches our attention are those mysterious robberies that seem to have been committed by Mrs. Kuhn, but that Finally, it is not 100% clear if she was responsible..

İlker Çatak has already assured that he does not plan to solve this mystery, since his intention with the film and that ending in particular is not to solve who stole the money, but rather plant the seed of reflection on everything that this has triggered:

“The film is not about that but about how all societies need a scapegoat and how, when there is a crisis (as often happens in politics), sacrifice after sacrifice must be made to keep the system working“.

Without a doubt, another of the big questions that the film leaves is where Carla Nowak’s perseverance comes fromthe protagonist teacher (played by Leonie Benesch), whose intimacy we do not see in all the footage, only how she behaves in the workplace.

Çatak explains that it was a conscious decision, as he believes that his actions in that environment speak for themselves and adds: “I didn’t want this character to be a victim.even though they accuse her and marginalize her at school. There are no victims in this storyand no one takes a step back.”

Furthermore, he argues that the character is so vehement because he knows what it is like to be judged unfairly, due to his Polish origin: “There is a horrible prejudice in Germany that all Poles are thieves”. A situation taken from the director’s own experience, a German of Turkish origin, who has had to deal with prejudices in his country.

The truth and everything else

Without a doubt, this frustrating and somewhat anticlimactic ending contrasts greatly with the rest of the film, where The tension grows in crescendo and we become desperate along with the protagonist. as the situation increasingly escapes their control and becomes something of excessive proportions.

However, it is also not that surprising in the sense that, From the beginning, it is presented as a not at all complacent story. An ending that gave you everything done would have been much more dissonant: Mrs. Kuhn admitting her guilt and asking the teacher for forgiveness, all of her students magically regaining trust in her and nothing has happened here. That’s not gonna happen.

The film opts for a rawer look at the plot, and is consistent with that ending, in which Nowak has the happiest outcome it could have: the fleeting satisfaction of having fulfilled her role as a teacher and get his student to trust his abilities and use them to solve the Rubik’s cube.

Of course, it is a fleeting happiness that works like prelude to what we already sense and that last scene highlights us: the nightmare has only just begun. The problem will not be resolved, the accusations will continue, with the terrible collateral damage that this will entail not only for the protagonist, but for all those involved.

History works as a metaphor for our most immediate current events.using school as a small-scale example of how our society works: in the end, who the real victim was is no longer relevantand it becomes a media circus in which post-truth prevails (the truth of emotion, not of the evidence that supports it) championed by those who make the most noise, regardless of everything else.

It is true that it is difficult to understand the attitude of the teacher, who persists against all odds because she empathizes with the situation of those affected, but precisely she seems to be the only one interested in getting to the bottom of the matter, in acting as an educator instead of removing herself. problem over with a quick expulsion. An attitude that is rewarded with inevitable failureso the film itself shows that it is not possible to maintain it in the times we live in.

Definitely, a rough and not at all pleasing ending that fits like a glove to a film that we could define with the same adjectives. A backgroundby the way, which the director used despite knowing that it broke the internal focus of the film (everything is told from Nowak’s point of view) and inspired by the ending of the film ‘There Will Be Blood’ ‘).

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