The Pencil (Natalya Nazarova, 2019): Russia

Reviewed by Kate Marsden. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2020.

The Pencil follows a passionate art schoolteacher Antonina (Nadezhda Gorelova) as she moves from St. Petersburg to a small rural town that is ridden with gang violence so she can be close to her husband, a prominent outspoken artist who is now a political prisoner in the local prison. In her class is the unruly younger brother of the ring leader of the local gang (who is serving time for homicide). Even though he’s just a middle school aged boy, the school’s faculty is fearful of the young man and rarely is he reprimanded for his bullying tendencies. Antonina decides to change this and by doing so alters the fate of her students, new neighbors and most importantly her own.

The film has a haunting and off-putting tone throughout. This is apparent in the opening sequence where the first word isn’t spoken until Antonina arrives to the boarding house where she wants to rent a room-signifying the loneliness of her journey from the bustling city to the deafeningly quiet countryside.

At first when Antonina is interviewing for her teaching position at the school she lies to the headmaster that she moved out of St. Petersburg for the climate and then confesses that her husband was falsely accused of something and is being jailed in this small town.

After purchasing some pencils (which are manufactured in town, hence the title of the film) Antonina befriends fellow teacher Sergei (Vladimir Mishukov) on her walk back to the boarding house. She’s invited to Sergei’s birthday party where she could meet her colleagues which she at first declines but reluctantly attends. At the party, Antonina makes a great first impression. She sees the softer side of the strict teacher that Sergei is when he interacts with his brother with special needs. Antonina really has a way of seeing the best in everybody, even though this may not always work to her favor. But as the night goes on, she gathers more information on just how much hold the gang leader’s younger brother has on the faculty, the student body and even the population of the town.

As her new position starts she notices just how horribly the gang leader’s brother treats his fellow classmates. Antonina actually speaks up for the students that are being harassed much to the dismay of the school faculty. Antonina really is the definition of an inspirational teacher. She brings her students outside of the dreary classroom and out into the surrounding nature for their first assignment with her. This results in really beautiful nature shots which are silent except for the simple melancholic piano at times.

After this first nature assignment, Antonina notices a lot of potential in a soft-spoken small boy in her class. She takes him under her wing and keeps an eye out for him since he is one of the gang leader’s younger brother’s frequent targets for harassment. A lot of tension and thrilling twists happen due to this endearing teacher-student relationship.

This was a gorgeously filmed piece that reminds the world just how important caring teachers are to bettering the lives of the youth.


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