The check instant (2018)

Directed by: Nicolas Philibert | 100 minutes | documentary

Nicolas Philibert made his name with the authentic description of a village school in the Auvergne in the critically acclaimed documentary blockbuster ‘Être et avoir’ (2002). No pompous convictions, no colored drama, but genuine interest spoke from that. ‘The instant chaque’ is, albeit a different matter, a suit from the same cloth. We follow a group of nurses in training, a multicolored set of individuals in the Paris region. The camera is there, that much can be said. They are spontaneous sessions, with test patients, teachers and energetically cackling, good-natured students, ready for a future as caregivers.

The medical environment isn’t always encouraging, but there’s also a funny incident involving a patient who claims to “love needles.” So sympathetic and well made. And of course there is a bit of moral color in it: the youth radiates hope, and everyone participates. Just as in ‘Être et avoir’, here too a school setting, and that is not the real society, but the way the subculture concerned tries to fill it. Read: working together, getting results, a little fun in between, and then home, where an unemployed father, absent mother or criminal boyfriend is probably waiting. Maybe a bold lover, but we don’t see that.

The undersigned always finds such a bare design a pity. Where are the problems? Is nobody late? Isn’t there a dropout that messes up? Not really. It will be a difference of opinion, the fact is that Philibert refuses to look for the depth that could disturb his message. And that’s a good thing too. Do we not read enough in the newspapers about problems with the multicultural society and that things will never work out? In Philibert’s open, sometimes somewhat sweet world, there is at least the hope of equality and brotherhood, or sisterhood as you will. Presented lifelike to the viewer.