The law of the jungle is fair and kind compared to the law (or lack thereof) of high school. 16 year old boys can act with the utmost cruelty and viciously attack their peers. Contemporary psychologists call this phenomena bullying. And that's exactly what Joosep is struggling against. He's constantly bullied by a group of abusive boys that act under the guidance of Anders, the alpha male, the ultimate bully.When the boys assault Joosep in the locker room and remove his clothes, leaving him completely naked, Kaspar, a boy that was part of Anders's circle rebels against the abuse and saves Joosep from further mortification. Kaspar then embarks upon an almost impossible task, after all, he is an idealistic adolescent fighting against an abstract threat. He can fend off Anders for a while, but he cannot neutralize bullying as a continued and ever increasing practice in high school.Anders ridicules Joosep persistently, accusing the defenseless boy of being gay. It doesn't matter if Joosep is gay or not, the important thing is that Anders behaves like every other uncouth teen in the world: he relies on the homosexual phantasm in order to articulate himself in the symbolic order and, more accurately, in a place of power within the lawless dynamic of high school.Homosexuality is seen as a synonym of the abject, id est, the vilest, the very lowest condition of man. That's why it's also the most common insult among teens in Western (and perhaps Eastern) society. According to contemporary philosopher Slavoj Žižek, we should ask here a naive, but nonetheless crucial question: why does the Army so strongly rejects gays? Not because homosexuality poses a threat to the 'phallic and patriarchal' libidinal economy of the military community, but, on the contrary, because the Army itself depends on a disavowed homosexuality as the key component of the soldiers' male-bonding.In fact, in any phallocentric society there will be an insatiable need to humiliate the one who who doesn't act as manly as he should. And if there is no such person then every group of men will create this figure, even if it's as a purely phantasmatic projection of their own fears and insecurities. This of course pertains to high-school, after all, adolescence is a difficult age in which the subject must reaffirm both sexual identity and gender role, something that is made all too clear in "Klass".This flimsy concomitance of extreme and violent homophobia with thwarted homosexual libidinal economy, is evident in high school. That's why it's impossible for the boys to divulge what is really going on in their lives: they cannot explain this to their parents or teachers.Once a popular boy, Kaspar is now labeled as a pariah, joining Joosep in the murky confines of the land of the "losers" (it's fascinating to observe that this dichotomy between popular kids and losers exists not only in the US but also in Estonia). Thea, Kaspar's girlfriend, loses her patience. Why is he defending this pathetic, antisocial boy? For Kaspar is a matter of honor. If Anders represents power, Kaspar is the heroic resistance.Anders is completely obsessed with the alleged homosexual condition of Joosep. Although very subtly, Ilmar Raag's film presents a homophobic that could perfectly be a (furious and frustrated) closeted homosexual. Anders displays an obsessive behavior that obtains libidinal satisfaction out of the very compulsive rituals destined to chastise gays. That's why when he fails to create the fantasy of homosexuality through an elaborate scheme of false e-mails sent to Kaspar and Joosper he chooses a more radical approach.Hazing is a typical masculine ritual. Should this practice be publicly disclosed the very dynamics of the heterosexual normativity would be undermined. Because to consider themselves as straight guys, these boys must depend on a mechanism of self-censorship. Hazing seems to be accepted by adults as long as no one outside school finds out about them. That's why in sports class teachers don't worry about Joosep getting punched. In the same way, Joosep's father gets mad at his son, not because of the hazing but because the hazing has escaped the boundaries of school and has reached their house. The rule is simple: violence can take place as long as it's not discovered.Anders's new trap seems to work at first, when he captures Joosper and Kaspar in the beach. There, he menaces both with a knife; he then proceeds to put Kaspar on his knees and forces him to receive Joosep's penis into his mouth... while filming everything with a digital camera. The hazing, of course, nowadays can be perpetuated through YouTube, Facebook or any other social network. Anders has planned to destroy the two boys, to make them feel so ashamed that they must either leave the school or commit suicide. But once these images are broadcasted online, the required self-censorship gets deactivated; thus vacating the place of power and creating a counter-power.In other words, Anders can no longer be the leader, something made clear by the comments of the boys in his group, who feel disgusted at his actions. The homosexual slandering had been fundamental for them insofar as it had only worked in the dimension of the phantasm. Once homosexuality is embodied by the two victims, everything falls to pieces. After Anders has degraded his two victims, he loses all power, and thus empowers Kaspar and Joosper who now feel compelled to exact revenge on the bully."Klass" is one of the most honest, heartbreaking, cruel and powerful films I've ever seen regarding teenagers, games of power and violence. Once violence escalates we know that tragedy ensues. Reminiscent of productions such as Gus Van Sant's "Elephant" or Murali K. Thalluri's "2:37", Ilmar Raag gets to the core of adolescence and creates an extraordinary story that dissects the nature of power and violence.

I saw it once again on yesterday. It's really tough movie which has been made for shocking. And it definitely fills that role. Storyline is rather easy and predictable but the action is tough to watch. Joosep was a quiet student who wasn't very social nor athletic which led up others bullying him. In the film Joosep gets sabotaged by the main bully and the whole class is suddenly against him. A new boy Kaspar starts to defend him and later they are both constantly terrorized by the main bully Anders and his loyal followers in the class.The most tragic part is obviously the violence and how from the smallest sabotage an entire class can stand up against one boy. It shows how the entire class ignores or even enjoys it. Although some girls sometimes said that Joosep had had enough, they still really didn't care about the violence. It was also sad to see those who wanted to be Anders' friends followed his every move. The best example how majority of class bootlicked Anders is this in my opinion.ANDERS: Why did you defended Joosep today ? KASPAR: I didn't defend him. PAUL: Hey, if Anders told that you defended him then it was so.Now some things that may distract you a little bit. The number of form wasn't actually mentioned but in description it says that Kaspar and Joosep were 16 years old which means they must have been in 9th or 10th form but this kind of bullying takes usually place in 6th or 7th form. Also they were a bit too brutal with Joosep and Kaspar sometimes.But these are small things compared how touching this movie was. Although few years ago it was reported that some boys had got ideas from the beach scene and actually bullied some boys in such way here in Estonia, I believe that the effect has been positive. This film really makes you think about important values and your own life, whether you've been or are in Anders', Joosep's or Paul's position. All in all it is really a great movie, it is made to shock you and it will. 8/10

I thought that the film The Klass was a very good film. It is about a boy called Kaspar and the class pushover Joosep are 16 and life in high school isn't easy for both of them Kaspar defends Joosep against the bullying of his classmates, but every time Kaspar tries to help him, it backfires,for them with the class taking it out on Joosep. But their classmates are unstopable, going further and further with each incident. I thought that this was a very violent and shocking film. I think that it manages to show how bad bulling can get in school for young people. I thought that this film was directed very good by Iimar Raag,

Almost every class in high school knows one: a lonely child that is being picked on by everyone. Unable to give proper resistance against the different kids in the class that one person becomes the victim of just about everything. Most of the time it ends up OK in the end, but sometimes it goes to a point of no return and then it ends in full flexed drama. This film is about such a drama.Starting out at the point where a kid is picked out as being the one to pick on the events that happen happen in just the right pace. The film switches between fueling the fire and licking the wounds, and later between fueling the fire and planning the counter strike. It becomes impossible not to feel a certain level of sympathy for the guy, even though his actions are unforgivable. And that is why this film works well. Klass is a harsh message and I think it should be shown to all kids in high schools to show them the darkest sides of peer pressure and the effects of it on some people.9 out of 10 difficult lessons