The site's critical consensus reads, "A small, sensitive, and moving portrait of a teacher and his students.

[7] French film unions warned that if Lopez had been successful it would have spelt "the death of the documentary, undermining the crucial principle that subjects should not be paid to participate".

The production company told me and the children's families that they were making a small documentary about the phenomenon of the one-teacher village school and that the film would be used primarily for educational purposes.

They said it would have a restricted screening, and never discussed marketing the film to make it such a commercial venture....We had no idea that it would be in cinemas all over the country, released on DVD or distributed abroad.

[3] Lopez said the unexpected attention the film had brought the young students had traumatised some of them: "One child, who had been very stable and happy until the film's release, was so distressed by his unexpected fame, that he started wetting the bed, and became afraid of the dark...Other children have been teased at their new secondary schools because of their involvement.