kerpan Review of A Class to Remember

A Class to Remember (1993)

Warm-hearted tear-jerker (unavoidable spoiler)

[8/10 · 22 May 2003]

This film is set in a night-school junior high. It focuses on two teachers and one class of students (finally nearing the end of their program) -- who range from young drop-outs to a grandmotherly restaurant owner (and immigrant from Korea). Many of the students have troubled (or at least difficult) pasts -- and the film looks at how they came to be in the class. When news arrives that a former classmate (an initially illiterate 50-ish manual laborer) has died, the class and it's normally happy-go-lucky home room teacher reflect on life, happiness and the purpose of education. Basically a very-well-made (and acted) heart-warming tear-jerker -- that might even provoke some thought.