The Last Class (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
Jun 26
3 min read

THE LAST CLASS (2024)

Featuring Robert Reich.

Directed by Elliot Kirschner.

Distributed by Abramorama. 71 minutes. Not Rated.

“I’ve been a professor, a teacher, for 42 years,” Robert Reich explains early on in this film about his last semester teaching at the University of California in Berkeley. “I’ve done a lot of other things, but I’ve always come back to teaching. That’s been my home, and I can’t imagine not doing it.”

Of course, Professor Reich is being awfully humble when he lumps the rest of his accomplishments in the catch-all phrase of “a lot of other things.”

Some of those other things include a lengthy career in politics, mostly on the Democratic side. He was Secretary of Labor in the Bill Clinton administration, and he also worked at differing levels in the administrations of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter and even for Republican president Gerald Ford. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts in 2002. He is also board chair emeritus of the DC watchdog group Common Cause.

He has become famous as a political analyst, he has written many best-selling books, had regular columns in such periodicals as Newsweek and The Chicago Tribune. He started his own popular blog, robertreich.com. He has been a talking head on countless news programs and produced some documentaries. He even appeared as himself in The Simpsons.

Simply as a professor, before spending many years in Cal starting in 2006 , he taught in such hallowed institutions as Brandeis and Harvard.

The Last Class focuses on Reich’s final semester at Berkeley in 2023, leading up to him officially retiring as a Professor. The documentary barely touches on Reich’s political work – this is an illustration of Reich the teacher.

At a time when institutes of higher learning are under attack from the current administration and certain members of the “press,” perhaps it is a suitable time to take a good hard look at smart, committed educators and their students. Therefore The Last Class is even timelier than it was a couple of years ago when it was originally filmed.

However, although Reich is best known for progressive causes, he understands the importance of debating all sides of issues and acknowledging all points of view. This is something he strives to implant with his students.

“A good teacher instills both curiosity and critical thinking,” Reich explains. “And this is the connection to democracy.”

Much of The Last Class is just that – watching Reich keeping a lecture hall’s worth of students rapt. He turns out to be – no big surprise – a terrific teacher; funny, smart, personable and able to make complicated economic ideas seem easily accessible.

It is all fascinating and surprisingly entertaining. We see how Reich was sort of a rock star on the campus – there was a huge crowd for his final lecture, and even when he walked around campus he was constantly approached by students for small-talk, autographs or selfies.

We also learn much more about the man, who is willing to allow himself to look vulnerable, particularly when he tells a story in which he acknowledges that he lost it while at a doctor’s office right before the resignation.

If a man who has led such a full, important life can feel like it is passing him by, I can’t imagine how we normal mortals can expect to keep up. However, The Last Class is good proof that Robert Reich – above all else – has had a life very well lived.

Jay S. Jacobs