If you haven’t seen last year’s “The Chorus,” go see it. Now. It’s likely one of the best movies ever made. “The Chorus” is French and set in 1948, but is quite enjoyable even if you don’t like foreign movies. In it, Christophe Barratier draws on the tradition that delinquent French boys are better off charmed than chastened. There seems to be an air of romance surrounding wayward boys, particularly French ones.

The story begins when Clément Mathieu, a balding, middle-aged prefect, decides to take the job of teaching at a boarding school for delinquent boys. They are truly uncontrollable but somehow he gets the bright idea of trying to form a choir. The most important of the unruly singers is tall, fair-haired Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier) who is often in trouble, and staunchly refuses to join Mathieu’s chorus of misfits until Mathieu finds him singing by himself.

The school’s headmaster is a constant threat to the newly formed choir. Rachin is a prissy sadist whose way of dealing with children is the idea of “Action, Reaction” - the philosophy of instant punishment for wrongdoings that are either real or imagined. Fortunately for Clément Mathieu, Rachin isn’t popular among the staff and Mathieu soon finds allies in the other teachers.

Sure, this may be one of those stereotypical movies about taming the savage young male with the power of art, but it was still a huge hit in France, and is an overall uplifting film. The characters are brought to life marvelously. It’s a simple, sweet story about a prefect (and aspiring composer) who truly wants to do something nice for the boys!