The Lesson

Nadezhda is an elementary school teacher in a Bulgarian town. Somebody in the class has stolen money from another of her students. She tries to teach them a lesson and let the money be returned in secret. Her unemployed drunken husband wasted their mortgage payments. The bank raised their interest rate and threatens to take their home. Her father has a much younger woman after her mother's death. She is forced to borrow from a loan shark. The loan is coming due and she has no money to repay it. She is offered an unsavory solution. As she tries to out the thief in her class, she is coming to terms with her own immoral decision.

It's a nice moral dilemma. The filmmaking is a bit weak. There are scenes missing that could elevate the drama. The obvious missing piece is the child thief. This movie is screaming for two side-by-side storytelling. The kid stealing the money could be a great second plot. Missing that, the movie still has a great idea. The ending has some poignancy but it doesn't push the tension to its limits. There are missing scenes that could really raise the intensity.