"We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to ask us to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us. In the simplest terms, in the most convenient of definitions." -Brian, The Breakfast Club
I've been curious about The
Breakfast Club since I heard about it in (ta-dah!) Pitch Perfect with Jesse
gushing about how it is one of the best musically scored movies of all time.
(Queue music: "Don't you forget about me...")
I didn't expect
much from it though. The plot's really a cliche of what a typical high school is. We
have five kids from different cliques spending one Saturday of detention. The
setting just revolved with all five inside the library and the whole movie is
all about the 8-hours they spent inside and where they weren't allowed to eat, sleep
or even study. So there's Claire (the princess), Andy (the Sporty), Brian (the
Brain), Allison (the Basketcase/the emo kid) and Bender (the criminal/the
rebel).
You'll find
that the first few minutes of the film involved a lot of fighting between
Bender, Claire and Andy. Out of shared boredom, they bonded over smoking pot
that Bender sneaked in the library. With shared stories about why they're in
detention and their troubled family life, the story ended with all of them
being friends.
Predictable
as the story is, I think many can relate to the story. Not fitting in, academic
and peer pressure and not knowing what it is that you really want for
yourself.
I can't even
place myself on what clique I belong to when I think about high school. I'm not
the prom princess or one of the "It" girls, I am not a rebel or emo
and certainly don't make an effort or show concern about keeping straight A's.
I'm so normal it's weird. I am just me. Simple, regular and average.
A scene that got me was when Brian
asked what’ll happen on Monday when they get back to their own friends and
groups to which Claire answered in all honesty, “No.” They weren’t going to be
friends come Monday. They have to get back to their crowd and will eventually
ignore each other.
See? That’s why Don’t you forget
about me makes real sense. Especially the line: “When you walk on by will you
call my name?” It’s because of that scene. It’s because of Monday—Monday they
may never be friends anymore. On Monday, they may say hi to each other but call
the other names after the other passes by because they’re afraid of what their “friends”
might think.
Movies nowadays have OST’s na
sobrang layo sa theme ng movie. Now I understand why Jesse said this movie has
one of the best musical scores of all time.
Anyway, that scene made me think
about my high school days. I don’t know, this was American High School and an
American movie. Where I come from, I became friends with different kinds of
people. I wanted variety. Feeling ko nabo-bobo ako if I hang out with just one group. I think you can learn so many things by interacting with different kinds of people.
Gasgas na pero “Don’t judge the book by its cover.”
Everything and everyone change after high school. Yung mga akala mong walang
future, they’re doing good for themselves now. I may not be close to some of
them but I’m happy for the good changes in their lives. Some of us are
accountants, still studying (for Masters, Law, Medicine or whatever), teachers,
engineers, cooks or architects. Many of in our batch are even moms and dads to
their darling kids now and high school sounds like ages ago.
I enjoyed my high school life. My
best and closest friends are from the same high school as well.
So it saddens me when I hear the
news about bullying, suicide and all that with kids these days. I hope they
find it in their young mind and hearts that you are not defined by how you look
like, the group you belong to, grades and most certainly not by number of ex’s
you had. Over the years, you’ll learn that you do not know it all and that
there’s still so much to learn.
In the end what I’m really thankful
about high school are the friends I’d kept over the years. Knowing I have
people who were there and will be there when I needed them to be.
Anyway I give it a 3.5 over 5. The
director, waited for a good timing to present the vulnerable side of the
characters. It was written by the late John Hughes who also wrote another film
that's close to my "kiddie" heart--Home Alone and Home Alone 2 -Lost
in New York. He's good in making the audience fall in love with the
characters.
