When people are struggling just for survival, education for children doesn't seem necessary. Even the teacher himself, with two years of education, cannot make a living. In the film, the teacher's persuasion of the usefulness of education (some basic arithmetic and alphabets learning) attracted only one boy's attention - "you will be able to write your name." To other boys, to be a successful smuggler may have a better chance in life. In the film, the teacher wants to marry a woman without reason. There is not a hint of whether affections or economic considerations were in play. Even with a series of one-man-shows of teaching the woman "I love you," it is not convincing that the teacher "loves" that woman. The meanings of marriage and divorce are so empty which makes one wonder:"why bother?" The director gave us a glimpse of how desperate the lives of war-deprived people - which is heartbreaking. To a certain degree, she succeeded. However, the film needs more cutting to make it proceeds smoothly. Many shots took too long just to show repetitive movements (maybe the director wants viewer to feel the slow and tediousness of how these people feel?) One obvious editing mistake is that while the blackboard has been cut in half in the middle of the film, which miraculously maintained an uncut full-sized shape at the end.
Review of Blackboards
