A Class to Remember 2: The Learning Cycle (1996) [Film Review]

A Class to Remember 2: The Learning Cycle; or, On the Road to Nowhere
      That's your duty as a teacher, Kobayashi, to help them out.
Similarly to many of his other successful movies, director Yoji Yamada revisits the world of Japanese schooling with A Class to Remember 2: The Learning Cycle, a sequel to the original film from 1993. Although Toshiyuki Nishida returns in the leading role, the film presents a stand-alone story, unrelated to the previous film.

Release Info

Directed by: Yoji Yamada Starring: Toshiyuki Nishida, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Ayumi Ishida

Language: Japanese Original Title: 学校ＩＩ Runtime: 122 min

Synopsis
Aoyama Ryuhei (Toshiyuki Nishida) is a teacher at a special school for handicapped children. Apart from dealing with the problems of his teenage daughter, Aoyama’s free Sunday is completely spoiled because two students, Takashi (Hidetaka Yoshioka) and Yuya (Hiroshi Kobe), left the dorm and did not come back. Aoyama sets out on a search for missing students together with a fellow teacher Kobayashi (Masatoshi Nagase). While riding in a car, Aoyama recalls the tough beginnings of the missing students and the hard way they have come to reach independence.

The Moon’s Balloon
I was pretty excited when I finally tracked down A Class to Remember 2 and sat down to watch this, but I was completely unprepared for such a gut-wrenching story. Instead of focusing on night schools, Yamada chose to bring to the spotlight the taboo topic of education for the handicapped. Indeed, it is a very difficult issue, especially in the context of Japan where you do not hear much about students whose learning capabilities are impaired.

The movie is composed of two huge flashbacks about the missing students. They show how difficult it is for teachers to properly handle such children. In addition, the children are presented as soulful individuals who seek not only compassion but also acceptance in modern-day society. I have to admit that I found it pretty hard to watch the stories of Takashi and Yuya. They strongly reminded me about such movies as The Boys Next Door (1996) and Girl, Interrupted (1999).

Nevertheless, the tragedy reaches a wonderful catharsis in the movie’s finale when the students end up having “a ride” of their lifetime. I think that with this movie Yoji Yamada tried to say that no matter who bad things are, every cloud has a silver lining.

With regard to performances, evidently Toshiyuki Nishida dominates the picture with his presence, but I also liked the appearances of the great Ayumi Ishida and Hidetaka Yoshioyoka (he is basically Yamada’s regular, having appeared in about 20 movies of his).

Recommendations
If you like movies that are not afraid of difficult subjects, then A Class to Remember 2: The Learning Cycle is for you. It was not my cup of tea, but I appreciate the message which the director wanted to communicate. Hopefully, I will be able to review A Class to Remember 3: The New Voyage.
Overall score: 7/10

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