By Omeleto
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Years ago, Zahra became a single mom when her husband left her, leaving her behind with her young daughter Alicia. That little girl has grown up into a troubled young woman, and though Zahra has settled into her life, her daughter still harbors rage and sadness at their broken family.
Zahra knows her daughter is in trouble, but the seriousness of her situation is made clear during an initially cordial parent-teacher conference. The teacher makes no bones about Alicia’s struggles, along with his exasperation with Alicia. But as chaos descends upon the conversation, accusations are tossed out — and certain truths come to the surface.
Written and directed by Dean Leon Anderson, this compelling short family drama tracks the chain of familial trauma, as one family’s separation and break leaves its mark on its youngest members, even years later. Though a parent’s mistakes happened in the past, they still must reckon with them, as they watch their fallout continue to reverberate.
After a brief glimpse of a tense moment in the present, the film begins with a family trauma’s point of origin, as a father takes leave of his wife, in a blaze of anger, recrimination and rage. It’s a raw, emotional scene, made all the more poignant with the presence of a tiny young girl at the margins of it all. Heartwrenching and searing, the opening leaves an impact on both character and viewers, even when we jump ahead in time. Years later, Zahra has changed, from her appearance to the air of anxious responsibility that she brings into a parent-teacher conference. And as the charged dialogue charts, Alicia has changed as well, into a teenager full of rebellion and anger.
The storytelling features a deceptively calm naturalism and a carefully constructed narrative that pays close, nuanced attention to character. But the film’s anchor is a powerful performance from Sharon Duncan-Brewster. Currently seen in a pivotal role in the feature film Dune, even in a short narrative format, she ably captures a character’s changes between two points in time. She seems more serious, but there is also an underlayer of defensiveness. Between Alicia’s provocations, her latent sense of shame and the teacher’s harshness, the conference becomes a volatile emotional powderkeg — one whose explosion unleashes surprising revelations that destabilize the fragile foundation of Zahra’s family.
The foundation of Zahra and Alicia’s relationship as a family falls apart during the emotionally explosive events of “Class 15,” pulling the film into a truly unexpected direction for all characters. But in the disintegration, Zahra finds a kind of freedom — one that allows her to speak her mind about the world stacked up against her and also about her past, with all its mistakes and misjudgments. The truth in all its thorniness is revealed, but she is relieved of her burden of keeping it hidden inside, along with her voice and her power.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
0:11
i’m afraid the situation with your
0:12
daughter is actually quite
0:19
[Music]
0:27
just tell me what to do
0:33
[Music]
0:40
he’ll never get over
0:42
on it
0:44
put him on the phone no
0:46
what’s he doing is he packing his stuff
0:48
yeah
0:50
right now
1:10
alicia
1:25
hmm
2:01
shane
2:04
you coming with me
2:08
no
2:10
you can leave winston
2:13
but you are not taking my son
2:15
you’re coming with daddy saying yeah
2:17
he’s not leaving winston
2:20
come
2:29
no no
2:31
you’re not taking my son you’re doing it
2:34
you’re not
2:42
yeah
2:43
let him look after you
2:55
shame
3:06
you’re a really good inspiration to the
3:08
rest of the kids as well absolutely so i
3:10
see you doing uh very quiet drama you
3:12
like your drama yeah are you very good
3:14
at dancing well what can i say yeah
3:18
that’s good um so yeah we’re thrilled
3:20
with um
3:22
how you’re doing
3:23
i mean she’s great she’s really applying
3:25
herself well
3:26
um you’ve got little eights virtually
3:28
the whole way down this
3:30
and i think alicia put your tie on a
3:33
little more work
3:34
uh we’re not talking very much but i
3:36
think a little bit more work and i think
3:37
maybe just the odds
3:40
yeah that would be good later i think
3:42
particularly maths
3:45
i think just that little nudge
3:47
will then
3:48
just get you up to nines and i think
3:51
i think it’s really important if we can
3:52
get those qualifications
3:55
as good as we can get them all right
3:57
thanks er pleasure and i’ll see you
3:58
tomorrow and thank you nice to meet you
4:01
thank you very much for coming in
4:04
next parent please
4:06
come in
4:25
this is
4:26
harrison it’s
4:28
miss jacobs i
4:31
went back to my maiden name after my
4:33
divorce
4:35
ah
4:37
uh
4:38
well miss uh jacobs first of all thank
4:41
you very much for coming in to see me
4:44
i’m afraid the situation with your
4:47
daughter is actually quite serious
4:49
wouldn’t you think so alicia
4:52
no not really
5:06
miss jacobs your daughter is failing my
5:09
course
5:11
she’s not engaging with a classwork and
5:12
she’s become
5:13
very disruptive and aggressive sometimes
5:16
to both myself and to some of the other
5:17
students
5:19
aggressive
5:20
i can’t believe this i’ve also seen her
5:22
smoking on the school grounds several
5:24
times and only yesterday i found her
5:25
cheating in a mock exam with one of my
5:27
other students nathan
5:30
to be frank i’m afraid alicia’s work is
5:34
well below the level required to remain
5:36
on this course
5:45
she
5:46
is doing okay in her art class
5:51
i thought perhaps we could discuss her
5:53
home life to see if there was anything
5:54
there that might be affecting her work
5:59
do you hear what this man is saying
6:04
thought cheating ran in the family
6:07
what’d you say
6:10
do you want to start this now
6:12
wait
6:15
do you have something to say to me about
6:17
what
6:20
i saw shane earlier
6:26
you saw shane
6:29
what did you see him on the bus and
6:32
he didn’t even recognize me
6:35
how can you see him and not tell me why
6:37
did you phone me you would have spoken
6:38
to him
6:39
now
6:43
i need to come in and
6:46
talk to you about alicia some other time
6:48
but that’s just not possible as a
6:49
teacher i have to address students with
6:51
conduct disorder you’re so dramatic
6:54
excuse me i said you’re dramatic you
6:57
should stop it why he’s only pretending
6:59
to give a [ __ ] because you’re here
7:01
you’re not the same gentleman in class
7:03
are you
7:06
sure turn that off
7:08
you what now
7:14
[Music]
7:20
glorified supply teacher
7:23
you know very well that i’ve been at
7:25
this school for a year now so i’d like a
7:26
little more respect now please turn it
7:29
off
7:36
look
7:38
i’m aware alicia’s been struggling here
7:41
i need her to finish this course why
7:44
don’t you stop chatting [ __ ] in my mom’s
7:45
ear
7:47
i know you’re only doing this because
7:48
you fancy me or something alicia
7:50
seriously staring at me you [ __ ] perv
7:53
not getting enough at home are you
7:55
how many times do you will you shut up
8:03
that’s enough
8:10
tell my mum what you called me the other
8:11
day
8:15
alicia wait how’s it going for me please
8:16
tell her
8:18
you’re an english teacher spell out if
8:19
you want to
8:21
n
8:21
i g
8:23
g
8:26
out
8:28
get out now
8:43
please just stop it
8:56
that alone will get her excluded
8:59
i’m not putting up with her attitude
9:01
anymore
9:05
alicia’s
9:06
not always been like this
9:15
when i gave birth to her she was
9:20
as quiet as this room
9:24
i was the one screaming down the
9:26
hospital
9:27
throwing up into the nearest bed
9:30
wondering what i was going to tell my
9:32
husband of two years about this
9:36
gorgeous little
9:38
baby girl i’ve just given birth to
9:41
that belonged to
9:43
some
9:46
balding
9:48
parasite of a teacher i had a one night
9:51
stand with
9:58
that’s impossible
10:00
really
10:04
look at here
10:10
jesus
10:30
why are you saying this now
10:36
does alicia know
10:48
i’d like to see elisha do better than
10:50
this
10:53
and i hope you’d want the same
10:56
i don’t want to hear about this
10:58
nathan boy anymore
11:00
so if possible i want him moved to
11:02
another class
11:04
i don’t want my child going to some
11:06
juvenile learning facility
11:09
so just do what you can
11:12
and fix this
11:30
sorrow
11:55
uh
12:10
uh
12:16
[Music]
12:28
[Music]
13:08
you
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
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