Today I had the pleasure of watching “The Last Class” at the cinema (first United States cinema experience!).
Just a little about the cinema (Rialto Cinemas Elmwood) for my Singaporean friends (or just one, you know who you are): I think it’s the equivalent of “The Projector” in Singapore, except that it houses even more obscure films; there are three theaters in the cinema, and the one that this film was playing in is about twice the size of the smallest room in The Projector, with about 70 seats.
The theater was completely full. The pre-show trailers were equally obscure, though there was an interesting trailer about rescuing animals from the Ukraine War. Such good is humanity. The “please-don’t-use-your-phone” warning is funnier at The Projector, though.
Going into this I had absolutely no idea who Robert Reich was except that he was a professor at UC Berkeley, and based off the title it seemed like this was his last class that he was teaching at Berkeley.
The class was “Wealth and Poverty”. The film shows Robert Reich conducting lectures, discussing issues with GSIs, taking photos with students, and cleaning up his study room. Unsurprisingly, the film portrays him in a very positive light, with its leftist undertones sweeping through the entire class. Before becoming a lecturer, he was Secretary of Labor under the Clinton administration, passing many policies meant to uplift low-income households in the country.
One part of the film that stuck with me the strongest was when the GSIs were giving Prof. Reich feedback, where a few students commented that they wanted to hear the professor’s thoughts on the various socioeconomic issues that were discussed in the class; he replied by saying that he believed that students should formulate their own opinions on the issues, instead of simply parroting what the professor believed.
Lastly: bring back credits scenes! The credits were bombarded with clips from Reich’s past, which were all genuine and hilarious to consume.
Did I enjoy this film? Certainly not in my top few of all time, but it was a light and easy watch. Wouldn’t recommend it explicitly though.
Excited to continue watching more movies here!