Mees Kees (2012)
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Directors
Cast
Willem Voogd, Vivienne van den Assem, Sanne Wallis de Vries, Felix Osinga
A trainee teacher’s playful lessons clash with the headteacher’s expectations, while offering one pupil a reprieve from difficulties at home.
The story
When their teacher takes maternity leave, primary-school friends Tobias and Sep find themselves taught by Kees Bruin, a trainee teacher assigned to manage their class alone because the headteacher cannot find a qualified substitute. Kees favors fun, play-based lessons, but headteacher Dreus disapproves of his approach. At home, Tobias is being raised by his mother, who spends much of her time in bed with depression. Kees’s attention gives Tobias a distraction from the difficulties at home, and he gradually grows closer to the class.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Tobias and his best friend Sep are in Group 6 at primary school. Their teacher, Sanne, is going on maternity leave. Headteacher Dreus cannot find a qualified teacher to fill in, so she has trainee teacher Kees Bruin teach the class on his own (Mr. Kees, whom the children call Mees Kees), while occasionally checking in to see how things are going. Kees turns out to want to do mostly fun things in class, with the intention of teaching through play. Dreus, however, does not approve. Tobias is being raised by his mother alone, but she spends most of her time lying in bed, depressed. Kees offers Tobias a distraction from the problems at home, and gradually becomes closer friends with the class. On a school trip, they visit the grain museum, but it is very boring. They leave quickly and spend the remaining time at a nearby amusement park. Tobias had not brought a permission slip from his mother, so Kees signed it. Dreus reprimands Kees for this and tells him he must be a teacher, not a friend to the children. Kees takes this to heart and suddenly becomes very strict with the children, which they find very disappointing. He also stops spending time with Tobias outside class, and Tobias now has to bring his own sandwiches to school. Before long, Kees changes his mind. The school inspector unexpectedly visits and finds that things are being done differently in Kees’s class. Dreus thinks everything has gone completely wrong, but the inspector is satisfied.
Genres
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