Based on a true story, Les Hértiers director Marie-Castille Mention-Shaar enters the prominent work of Madame Gueguen and her ethnically diverse classroom of teenagers. Looked down upon for being a low-life class within the school, with multiple disciplinary writeups and no faith for what the future would hold for the students, Madame Gueguen is warned of the work that she has cut out for herself. Though the students are rude, obnoxious and seem to not have a care in the world, they underestimate the petite woman that stands before them that will bend their futures.

These teenagers are given a humble task: to write from the perspective of the children and teenagers under the Nazi regime. The faculty and other peers of the school do not believe that Madame Guenguen’s students are intelligent enough to comprehend such an important task; she begs to differ.

The students come face to face with the horrors of the holocaust (which were not limited to Jewish people, but a long string of other ethnicity and religions that included French children). The genocide they must learn about will become the stepping stones for them  to work together and to overcome the prejudices that overshadows these students. They learn along the way that regardless of the ethnicity or religion of the victims of the holocaust, they dehumanized them as much as possible to strip them of any ray of hope they may have. The students feel a connection, living everyday unable to express their culture or religion due to strict school policies within Paris that do not allow any religious items or garments of any sort to be visible on school premises; these teenagers too understand how it feels to be looked down upon, whether it is religion or the color of their skin.

The small, close up moments- which include the one-on-one moment that the students have with a holocaust survivor, the discrimination against a none white-French woman on a bus, and the treatment against female students who cannot wear the traditional garments worn in their culture or religion within the school premises – strike a chord against the rights of  free expression students have in the United States, and the comparison of the slums of Paris to the majestic, timeless halls that award only the highest, most prestigious works is equally striking.

Ahmed Drame, the graduate of the Blum High School class that was awarded The National Resistant and Deportation award in Paris with his class, played himself in the film. Ahmed graduated with high notes and became an actor. He recounts his story in his book We Are All Exceptions.

With the same defining traits as the well-known American film Stand and Deliver, Les Hritiers is an inspirational film that can connect with students that anything is possible if you work hard, work together, and overcome the odds that are trying to work against you. I rate the movie an 8 out of 10; though it is in French and subtitles are provided, there is a bothersome lack of narration and some shapeless sequences overall.