[From August Issue 2012]

Gakko (Directed by YAMADA Yoji)

Released in 1993, “Gakko” (School) is a human interest drama, directed by YAMADA Yoji, who is known for his “Otoko wa Tsurai yo” (It’s Tough Being a Man) series and “Kofuku no Kiiroi Hankachi” (The Yellow Handkerchief). Set in a night school that allows students who, for various reasons, were not able to graduate from high school, to complete their high school education, it depicts the personal growth of these students and their teacher.

KUROI has been teaching evening classes in a downtown district of Tokyo, which is tightly packed with small factories and houses. On a winter’s day, with that year’s graduation ceremony drawing near, he is called up by the principal and is told: “It’s about time you transferred to another school.” However, Kuroi declines the job offer, saying, “I would like to stay here so that students can drop in and visit us any time after graduation.”

That day during the lesson he gets the students to compose an essay about what they want to do after they graduate. As he watches them write, he recalls his first encounter with each student.

Among the students, there is Midori whose father is addicted to alcohol and has dabbled in drugs herself; there is Kazu, a young guy, who is managing to hold down both a manual labor job along with doing evening class; there is Chinese student Chou who, despite having a Japanese mother, is having trouble fitting into Japanese society; Omoni, a Korean living in Japan, who is a mother and owner of a yakiniku (Korean barbeque) restaurant; and there is Inoda, who loves horse racing, but has grown up without learning how to read or write.

Kuroi, not only teaches these “socially disadvantaged people,” but also treats them as a parent or friend would: he lets Midori into his house for a bowl of ramen when she is roaming the streets weak from hunger, and when he sees how Kazu often dozes off during class, he helps him out with his day job to find out just how physically punishing it is. The students in turn become deeply attached to Kuroi, as if he were a parent or friend.

After the essay class, when all the students are having supper in the cafeteria, a call comes through to Kuroi informing him of the death of Inoda, who has been in hospital. Having received a letter from Inoda which expressed his wish to return to school for his graduation ceremony, Kuroi had just conveyed this news to the students. Kuroi changes the next class to a homeroom session to tell the students about Inoda’s death.

After this movie, sequels were produced under the supervision of Yamada. “Gakko II” (1996) is set in a special school that helps students with disabilities. In “Gakko III” (1998) students, such as single mothers with disabled children, are depicted attending a vocational school. “Age 15 – Gakko IV” (2000), depicts a bunch of students who skip school to go on a hitchhiking trip. Various forms of school education and interactions between teachers and students are depicted in these movies.

[2012年8月号掲載記事]

学校（監督：山田洋次）

「男はつらいよ」や「幸福の黄色いハンカチ」などで知られる山田洋次監督による人間ドラマで、1993年に公開された。家庭の事情などを理由に義務教育である中学校を卒業していない人たちが、自分の意思で通う夜間中学校を舞台に、教師と生徒たちが共に成長していく姿が描かれている。

黒井は、東京の下町の町工場や住宅が密集する夜間中学校で長年、教師をしている。卒業式を目前に控えた冬のある日、学校長に呼び出され、「そろそろほかの学校へ異動を」と、辞令を言い渡される。しかし、黒井は「卒業した生徒たちがふらっと遊びに来たときのために残りたい」と断る。

その日の授業は作文で、卒業するにあたっての決意などを生徒たちに書かせる。その様子を見ながら、黒井はそれぞれの生徒と出会ったころのことを思い出す。

生徒には、アルコール中毒の父親をもち、自身も薬物に手を出した経験をもつみどり、肉体労働の仕事と夜間中学を両立させる青年カズ、母親が日本人でありながら日本社会になじめない中国人の張、母親であり、焼肉店を経営する在日コリアンのオモニ、読み書きができないまま大人になった競馬好きの猪田などがいる。

「社会的弱者」である生徒たちに対して、黒井は勉強を教えるだけでなく、我が子あるいは友だちのように親身に付き合う。空腹で行き場のないみどりのために自宅でラーメンを作って食べさせたり、授業中に居眠りばかりするカズの日中の仕事がどれほど大変かを知るために肉体労働に付き合ったりする。そんな黒井を生徒たちは友だちや親のように慕う。

作文の授業が終わり、全員が食堂で夕食をとっていると、黒井のもとに1本の電話が入る。それは、入院中の猪田が亡くなったことを知らせるものだった。卒業式には元気な姿で戻ってきたいという猪田からの手紙を受け取り、生徒たちに伝えたばかりだった黒井は、次の授業をホームルームに変更し、猪田の死を生徒たちに知らせる。

この映画はその後シリーズ化され、山田監督の下、障害をもつ生徒たちが通う特別支援学校を舞台にした「学校II」（1996年公開）、障害児をもつシングルマザーなどが再就職を目指す職業訓練学校を描いた「学校III」（1998年公開）、不登校の生徒がヒッチハイクの旅に出る「十五才 学校IV」（2000年公開）と、いろいろな学校教育とそこに集う先生や生徒との交流が描かれている。