New Americas Cinema Series: THE LAST CLASS

Robert Reich, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor, might be famous for his public service, best-selling books, and viral social media posts, but he always considered teaching his true calling. Drawing on his lifetime in politics, he uses his class, “Wealth and Poverty,” to offer us all a deeper look at why inequalities of income and wealth have widened significantly since the late 1970s, and why this poses dangerous risks to our society. Now, after more than 40 years and an extraordinary 40,000 students, Reich is preparing for his last class—confronting the impending finality, and his own aging, with increasing candor, introspection, and, ultimately, emotion. One thousand students fill the biggest lecture hall on the UC Berkeley campus, the last class to receive Reich’s wisdom and exhortations not to accept that the world has to stay the way it is. His belief in the next generation’s ability to take on the fight is inspiring. [71 min; documentary; English]