The Teacher

In a middle school classroom in Bratislava in 1983, a new teacher, Maria Drazdechova (Maurery), asks each student to stand up, introduce themselves and tell her what their parents do for a living. It slowly becomes clear that perhaps the pupils' grades are related to how willing their guardians are open to helping her out with her errands, her housecleaning, and other random services. After one of the students attempts suicide, however, the director of the school has no choice but to call for an emergency parents' meeting to remove the teacher, but because Ms. Drazdechova is also a high-ranking official of the Communist Party, parents are hesitant to sign a petition to transfer her out. In a classroom behind the Iron Curtain, the future of all the families is at stake, as the film examines how each family must wrestle with standing up for what they believe in or silently keep the status quo.