The Empty Classroom (El Aula Vacía)

This anthology compiles ten short films dramatizing the high school dropout crisis facing Latin America today. The first, Piñalito, from Argentina, is a poignant vignette about a rural lad toiling with his father in the field, who follows a girl to a school where he would obviously like to study as well, but he is taken by his dad back to work. The second, Alondra, from Peru, serves up a portrait of a city girl who dreams of becoming a flight attendant but is stymied by family demands that undermine her studies. The remaining eight films—from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and El Salvador, as well as more from Argentina and Peru—scrutinize various issues, including the special problems of the children of indigenous families whose property rights are denied, black students dealing with prejudice, the failure of teachers to gauge the proper subject level for students, the disinterest shown by middle-class students regarding curricula that simply fails to excite them or does not promise later financial rewards, and the bullying and violence that deter students from attending class. Most of the shorts are fictional stories told in gritty style, but some—such as Hugo, from Mexico, a portrait of a deaf boy whose school does not provide special tools to enable him to master the material—are straightforward documentaries. With connective narration by actor Gael García Bernal, who also served as creative director of the project, this is an engaging if also somewhat scattershot overview of problems affecting graduation rates throughout Latin America today. A strong optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)