The most important thing about this film is time. The time that Mr. Bachmann takes, over and over again: Yes, the math exam will be soon, but first of all, Ferhan has to be comforted. Ferhan, who hardly ever takes off her thick coat in class. That seems to be constantly carrying some kind of life burden. When she silently lays her head in her arms, Mr. Bachmann sits down next to her: “Tell me. I’ll listen to you.” Ferhan is silent. Mr. Bachmann is waiting. And Maria Speth is waiting with you: her documentary film about a sixth grade in Stadtallendorf in Hesse lasts three and a half hours.
Actually, Speth wanted to make a film about first love among adolescents. But on the one hand there were problems with funding. On the other hand there was Dieter Bachmann. This teacher with his crocheted kepis, hard rock T-shirts and wild beard; studied sociologist, former stonemason and folk singer. It was not until his mid-40s that he trained as a teacher of German, mathematics and geography. His main subjects, however, are recognition, perception, and listening. And so the director imitates her protagonist.
Speth collected 200 hours of material with two cameras and a sound engineer. Four adults with their equipment in this narrow classroom, that is logistically difficult, and yet they seem to have disappeared from the children’s perception at some point, you never get the impression that they are acting for the camera. Maria Speth’s first rough cut had 20 hours, which were then “condensed over three years in the editing room so that I don’t lose the film’s energy,” as she says in a telephone interview. She clearly succeeded. “Mr. Bachmann and his class” was awarded the Silver Bear at the Berlinale in March, and the audience award was added at the Summer Berlinale.
All studies show that the teacher is much more important for the children than the type of school or class size
Stadtallendorf, a small town with a special history and, related to it, a social structure, “which is more reminiscent of Berlin-Kreuzberg than of German provinces,” as Speth puts it. The Nazis had built the largest explosives factory on the continent here and exploited forced laborers from all over Europe. In the 1950s, the confectionery manufacturer Ferrero opened its first plant outside of Italy here. A large iron foundry urgently needed young workers, the so-called guest workers from Greece, Turkey and Sicily were looking for jobs. And so in his last year at work, Mr. Bachmann teaches 19 children from nine nations, some of whom are still very delicate, in others a wild pubertal hormone cocktail is already foaming, but even the lankiest youthful bodies still have real kids’ heads. The cheeky Cengiz can sometimes just not keep his affection to himself, it always bursts out of him, Mr. Bachmann, I love you so much!
The film can be seen as impressive evidence of the results of the influential meta-study by New Zealand school researcher John Hattie. In 2009 he carried out over 50,000 empirical studies published worldwide on the question “How does successful learning succeed?” evaluated. Impressively clear result: External influencing factors such as the type of school or class size hardly influenced the student performance. Rather, what counts is the ability of the individual educator.
No matter how much material is on the curriculum – there must always be time to juggle, says Mr. Bachmann.
(Photo: Grandfilm)
Again and again you rub your eyes to see what freedom Bachmann creates in the tight teaching corset. He doesn’t teach at any Montessori institution, but “at a completely normal Hessian comprehensive school”, as Speth emphasizes several times in an interview. There are big intercultural problems, one suspects broken family histories. If the language is the house of the human being, then many of the young people trained here initially live in impressively crooked huts. But how do you find common house rules in order to stay in the picture, if the children don’t even know words like “responsibility” or “Bach”? And yet this classroom is never a pedagogical emergency room, but a large room in which somehow everything seems to have a place, life, music, juggling and always mutual respect. In her long-term observation, Speth does not construct dramatic cathartic moments, but shows a persistent togetherness, everyday life, always different, always the same, from which a community grows.
Stefi only came to Germany from Bulgaria during the school year. After one of the songs sung in class, she shouts that gay or lesbian love is totally disgusting. After the lesson, actually he finally had a break, Mr. Bachmann involved her in a conversation in the empty classroom. Why disgusting? He asks. “That’s the way it is!” She says with a shrug. “But why?” Insists Bachmann. “That’s disgusting.” “Why then? Explain it.” He does not forbid her opinion, but wants to get her to defend her argumentatively. “I’m trying to understand. You can’t even express it.” “Oh, I don’t know.” “That is better.”
Hesse is not quite as cruel as Bavaria when it comes to pre-sorting life paths
Towards the end of the film, Stefi makes a small presentation and tells a self-written story. Mr. Bachmann asks what grade she would give herself, she says questioningly, maybe a three, and you can tell that she finds that rather presumptuous. Mr. Bachmann gives her a one minus. To honor how far she has come in just a few months.
Rabia’s mother shows up in the office hours and says something about separation from her father, unfortunately they would have to move away. Bachmann’s dismay at this moment speaks volumes about his close bond with the children. Rabia had finally arrived somewhere, don’t do that, it would be so good if she could stay here. Rabia sits next to her with a crooked smile and looks at her mother. From the moment you get excited about what will become of the girl, you are relieved every time Rabia is still in the classroom.
Hessen is not quite as cruel as Bavaria, where, contrary to all developmental psychological findings, after four years of school, at the age of ten, decisions are made about which paths are open to a person or not. In Stadtallendorf, the sorting machine is not started until the sixth grade. In an “Aspects” contribution to Speth’s film, some of the children are being visited again today, four years after the shooting. Ayman, at the time so cheeky with mercury that Bachmann had to admonish him again and again, says in retrospect: “The others laughed at us, you just play music all day. But half made it to high school.” Five of the others have a secondary school leaving certificate, two at least have a secondary school certificate, which is all well above average. So it also seems to be professionally worthwhile if you simply observe your students every day.
Mr. Bachmann and his class, Germany 2021 – Director: Maria Speth. Camera: Reinhold Vorneider. Grand film, 217 minutes.