Saralyn M.

Infante

Grade 12- Belardo

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”- Charles Dickens. High school is the best and
most memorable school year for me. This is the stage where we just enjoy our student life. High
school helps us to discover ourselves, performing different tasks for the first time, and meeting
new faces in school every year. For me, it is also the most challenging, awkward, annoying and
hard four years that I experienced. High School Life 2 Stories as I‘ve read the title of the movie
in the ticket before entering. I’m expecting something good in the movie before starting and as
expected from the title itself different stories are shown. The scene where one of the students in
the movie named Angelo applies to get a job as a delivery boy, he’s conscious that his action will
lead in a good result. It’s good that they show this as a representation for working students who
want to help their family in the finances and choose something that is good for everyone. Love is
a thing that for most of us, is hard to describe. Thomas Aquinas said that love is a binding force,
Jean Paul Sartre also stated “I wanted pure love; foolishness; to love one another is to hate a
common enemy”. In connection, Angelica who is one of the students in the movie said
“Gagawin ko ang lahat, maghihintay ako” where in she’s being blind, doing everything for her
love (Marlon) without expecting something in return. It is also a thumb up for showing one of
the common trends in today’s society which is being in love without being love back. Freedom is
where we have the ability to choose what we want to do without any hindrance. Jean Jacques
Rousseau stated that man is born free but everywhere here is in chain. In the movie, there’s this
boy student named Mitch who had a girlfriend (Mylene). Mylene is always angry, telling Mitch
to update her in everything he does. I get annoyed in this scene when Mylene is being too much.
This shows that she’s controlling her boyfriend, wanting that Mitch’s attention and time is for
her only. People are chained not just in their relationship (love) but also in family. The scene in
the house, Jervick and his parents are talking about the college degree. Jervick want to take Fine
Arts, but his father want him to take Engineering saying that they are family of Engineers and he
don’t want his son to go on different path. This scene for me is not new that some students are
controlled by their parents in terms of picking their desires. These are the examples of
Rousseau’s saying, where in the girl and the father represents hindrances and that we’re free but
in chain. Alisha, one of the student in the movie who’s portraying as a rebel, she always say that
she’s from her friend’s birthday party. Her grandmother is always waiting for her every night yet
she’s still choosing her desires without knowing the consequences. Alisha portray her character
very well, it just make me sad knowing that some students nowadays choose to be like her. The
scene when the boy is drinking and his friend approached him to ask what the problem is; he tells
that his girlfriend (Jenny) wants to take their relationship in different level. I agree on his opinion
and stand when he said that pre-marital sex is not a way to show true love and that it can cause
responsibilities and consequences. This one is related in Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Individual must
decide which situation are to count as moral situations”. The movie informs viewer’s what can
be the possible problems if they engage in this act. Freud presented different states of mind
which include conscious, pre-conscious and unconscious. One of the students named Marlon is
unconscious, wherein he’s acting weird in front of her classmates and that it is where Freud’s
“Human freedom is impossible because human behavior is determined by mental states that
human persons have no awareness and control”. Blaise Pascal suggested that, without God, life
would be meaningless, boring and miserable. I can relate the scene where Mackie asked God
what happened; why of all people it is him to have that problem (when Alisha thought she’s
pregnant and he’s the father). This movie is great by showing the common problems in our
country. It is more on love with different stories. Love for the family, when Alisha’s
grandmother is always waiting for her and giving her some advices, when Marlon apologized to
his brother when he did something that his brother don’t expect, when his brother thought that
he’s doing well at school and at the end love was shown when his brother accepted his apology.
The love for wanting good for his son (Jervick) but he didn’t ask what the passion and own
desire of Jervick that lead him to join hazing/fraternity and cause him to death, at the end parents
showed their love for his son. “It is better to love and failed than to never love at all,” Kathryn’s
mom said. From the very first scene, mother’s love was shown when Kathryn forgot her lunch
box and her mother tell some advices before she enter the school. Different stories are shown
that represents being in chain or being controlled. This movie also showed the desires of
teenagers nowadays who don’t think what can be the consequences of the action. High School
Life Stories 2 make me reminisce high school life, makes me wonder what the stories of my not
so close classmates are back then. It is a simple movie yet every viewer can relate because of
different stories. Indeed they show and provide us knowledge and advices that we can use in our
own life. High School Life 2 Stories help us to widen our understanding and perspectives in life.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dickens, Charles. (n.d) A Tale of Two Cities. Goodreads Choice Awards.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/341391-it-was-the-best-of-times-it-was-the-worst

Aquinas, St. Thomas. (n.d). Love is a binding force.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. (n.d). Existentialism. I wanted pure love; foolishness; to love one another is to
hate a common enemy

Rousseau, Jean Jacques. (n.d). Freedom. Man is born free but everywhere here is in chain.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. (n.d) Existentialism Main Beliefs. Philosophy of Human Person

Freud, Sigmund. (n.d). Human Person as a Self-Determining Being/ Against Psychological

Determinism.

Pascal, Blaise. (n.d). History of Existentialism.

Existentialism. Psychological Determinism. Levels of Mind.