The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival (also known as ‘Berlinale’) is one of the “Big Three” film festivals (the other two are Venice Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival) held annually since 1951 and remains one of the largest publicly attended festivals in the world. Directors Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai are no strangers to creating engaging film documentaries including ‘Lourdes’ (2019) and ‘Rocco’ (2016). They return to Berlin with a new French dance film documentary called ‘Rookies’ leading the charge as Berlinale’s 2022 Generation Opening Film for the festival.
The documentary focuses on Turgot High School, which is located in the heart of Paris. It is a prestigious high school that brings in 1,400 students from various social and cultural backgrounds who are in their final years of high school to prepare these students for their future in higher education and become better citizens. The students in Turgot’s hip-hop sports classes are the focal point in this documentary, witnessing each student’s coming-of-age story unfolding in their journey to excel at the academics while retaining their passion for the art of hip-hop dance.
Many of these students featured were underprivileged kids who grew up in the projects and rough neighborhoods. Some of them came from an orphanage, grew up with a terrible childhood, or do not even know when their actual birth date was. David Bérillon, who is a sports teacher in Turgot High School, created the hip-hop class with the blessing from the school’s principal to give these students an opportunity to combine their passion for hip-hop dance while attaining respectable grade in order get them back on track to a better future.
The students were interviewed by David himself, and were selected for the documentary that best represented the diverse profiles with genuine backstories for the documentary. The purpose is to what is like to be in each students’ shoes while they share a similar journey to becoming a better version of themselves.
The cinematography style follows the students’ journey in a third-person perspective, with occasional talking heads from students talking about their life struggles in past and present situations in their academic and hip-hop journey. The viewers get an opportunity to sit with the students on their lunch breaks and hear their candid conversations they have with their peers and their challenges with the school council.
While it sounds like an incredible opportunity that these students earned a spot in the prestigious, the film shows how much of a struggle some of them have in maintaining their grades. They all have a passion for hip-hop dance. However, they lack focus on the academics, which are the prerequisites to higher education should they choose to pursue them. There are several scenes of students called into the principal’s office as a last-ditch effort in discussing about their poor grades and determining if each student still shows the desire and grit to improve their academic studies.
Watching these difficult conversations unfold feels very uncomfortable on both sides between the student and the school council. These scenes feel like each student was on their last chance to improve their grades or they will be expelled from the school. While their grades were abysmal, the school council still believes they have a shot to improve. It was through the difficult conversations that the school council and students needed to have ensure they still have the desire to succeed in academics. The principal may come off with tough love on the students, but once they leave the room, he shows that he really cares about keeping them around and would hate to let go any of the students from the program.
David on the other hand is a very empathetic teacher, which is reflective of him as a person as he came up with the hip-hop school program for these students. No matter how much the students disappoint David with their tardiness, lack of fire, and no-shows, David does his very best to maintain his composure to get each student back on track for the right reasons. It is a nice seeing David walk a mile in his shoes trying to help these students, showing a lot of patience with them who are trying to find a purpose for a better life.
‘Rookies’ is the perfect film to open in the Generation category at Berlinale, and is a great example of showcasing a unique hip-hop program at a prestigious school and giving these underprivileged students representation in their society and culture. This coming-of-age documentary brings a fresh perspective of these young lives and where they grew up, and how David and the Turgot High School is doing everything they can to give them a purpose in life.