This content originally appeared on The Progressive — A voice for peace, social justice, and the common good and was authored by Michael Atkinson.
‘The Last Class’ is a Glowing But Incomplete Portrait of Robert Reich
It’s unclear to what extent we should buy into Robert Reich’s autumnal, self-appointed role as a reliable “progressive” voice in the blab-o-sphere. One would think that his bona fides as Secretary of Labor under former President Bill Clinton during the triumphant rise of neoliberalism might compromise his bona fides as an arch progressive. But lately, Reich has been a nearly ubiquitous presence on cable news and social media, testily calling out the iniquities of TrumpWorld and decrying economic inequity. And now, with director Elliot Kirschner’s new film The Last Class, he’s the subject of a salutary documentary about his retirement from teaching after more than four decades in the college classroom.