1. We’ll live until Monday

• USSR, 1968.
• Drama.
• Duration: 106 minutes.
• KinoPoisk: 8.1.

In the center of the plot is a talented teacher Ilya Semyonovich Melnikov (Vyacheslav Tikhonov), who is experiencing an internal conflict. The teacher is deeply wounded by the imperfection of the Soviet education system, which is trying to unify students.

The film directed by Stanislav Rostotsky based on the script by playwright Georgy Polonsky has long been recognized as the gold standard for poignant and truthful cinema about school. This brilliant story in its simplicity has not lost its relevance.

2 The Rise Of Miss Jean Brodie

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

• UK, 1969
• Comedy, drama, melodrama.
• Duration: 116 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.6.

Before taking on the mantle of Minerva McGonagall, Maggie Smith won an Academy Award for her role as another charming teacher, Jean Brodie. A teacher with informal methods of education enjoys the boundless trust of her wards – students of a private boarding school in Edinburgh. But later it turns out that Miss Brody is not the best role model.

In a sense, the satirical melodrama The Rise of Miss Jean Brodie, based on the novel of the same name by Muriel by Sarah Spark, is We Live Until Monday in reverse. The central theme of the film is the teacher’s responsibility for fragile minds. While Ilya Semyonovich encouraged individuality in schoolchildren, his opposite – no less bright and talented Jean Brodie – skillfully manipulates his students in order to impose his own opinion on them.

3. Carrie

carrie

• USA, 1976
• Mystery, horror, drama, psychological thriller.
• Duration: 98 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.4.

Extraordinary girl Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), who has the ability to telekinesis, suffers from bullying cruel classmates. In her own home, she also has a hard time. The heroine’s mother, an obsessed religious fanatic, accuses her daughter of all mortal sins. After a particularly painful public humiliation, Carrie’s supernatural powers burst forth to exact revenge on anyone who wronged her.

The film by Brian De Palma was the first film adaptation of the works of the horror king Stephen King. The scene in which Carrie is drenched in pig’s blood has become iconic and has been parodied many times.

Despite belonging to the horror genre, the film will be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the psychological mechanisms of bullying.

4. Scarecrow

• USSR, 1983.
• Drama.
• Duration: 127 minutes.
• KinoPoisk: 7.9.

Sixth-grader Lena Bessoltseva (Kristina Orbakaite) moves to live with her grandfather Nikolai Nikolaevich (Yuri Nikulin), who is not particularly loved in his native provincial town for his unsociable character. New classmates first give the soft-hearted and meek girl the nickname Scarecrow, and then completely declare a cruel boycott for a misconduct that she did not commit.

The cult film by Rolan Bykov is based on the story of the same name by Vladimir Zheleznikov, the plot of which was suggested to the author by life itself. A similar story happened to the writer’s granddaughter, who took on someone else’s fault, similarly to the heroine of Scarecrow.

A frank film that raises the important topic of cruelty and forgiveness, at one time not everyone liked it. In the process of working on the picture, the artistic council of the State Film Agency was constantly looking for a reason to ban filming: is there bullying in the Soviet school?

Many admired the bold approach of Rolan Bykov, and after the session, the audience came out in tears. However, there were also those who scolded the director for allegedly disgracing Soviet children.

5. Club “Breakfast”

The Breakfast Club

• USA, 1985
• Comedy-drama, teen drama.
• Duration: 97 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.8.

Five students at fault must spend the day off at the school writing an essay on the topic “Who do you think you are.” The teenagers would never have become friends under normal circumstances, but they bond through punishment.

The Breakfast Club is the second installment in the School Trilogy, directed and written by John Hughes. It also includes Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. All three films were recognized as the standard of youth cinema and became almost the manifesto of a whole generation of American teenagers.

Behind the simple plot of The Breakfast Club, an attentive viewer will surely discern a much deeper story about growing up and choice.

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6 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

• USA, 1986.
• Youth comedy.
• Duration: 103 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.8.

Instead of passing final exams, the charming Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) indulges in all serious and in the company of his best friends goes to Chicago. And Bueller’s sister, a sneak and a bore, sleeps and sees how to set up her beloved brother, who always gets away with everything.

John Hughes again managed to show the life of teenagers with the utmost honesty and without the condescension inherent in adults. And young Matthew Broderick was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

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