Before presenting the film reviews, some guidelines for the use of films should be proposed. There are several actions that teachers can take to make sure that the films used in our classrooms will have optimal educational value. Here are my guidelines:
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1. Preview the film yourself. This is absolutely essential. You know your students better than anyone else does. You will be able to determine not only if the film fits into your curriculum, but also whether it is appropriate for your students. Furthermore, you will be able to prepare a set of discussion questions in advance.
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2. Prepare discussion questions which will enhance students’ viewing of the film. I recommend a set of questions which are organized day by day, which in most cases means by forty-five minute segments, since most middle and high school schedules are based on forty-five minute periods. You may wish to have students write out the answers to the questions each day to assure that they are watching carefully and comprehending the film. But when discussing a film after its conclusion, I usually begin with these three questions:
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a. How would you rate the film on a 1 to 10 scale?
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1-terrible
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2-poor
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3-well below average
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4-below average
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5-average
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6-above average
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7-good
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8-very good
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9-excellent
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10-superior
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b. Describe each of the film’s main characters.
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c. What are the film’s main themes?
The first of these questions seems very popular with my students. We go around the room and each student gives their rating and their ratings and their reasons. I give mine last in order not to bias the students.
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3. Make sure the film and your tv/vcr are in proper working order.
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4. Time your films so you won’t have a class period end with a few minutes of film left. “FAR AND AWAY” Irish-Americans,1992, 140minutes,PG-13
“Far and Away” is not a great film, but it will hold your students’ interests and with a skillfully-led discussion will result in most students learning more about the Irish-American experience than they would learn from the more scholarly yet somewhat tedious PBS special on Irish-Americans. Film critics Mick Martin and Marsha Porter give four stars to “director Ron Howard’s sweeping tale of Irish immigrants who come to America in the late 1800’s.” This “entertaining saga” features Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a “bickering couple from different social classes who find themselves adrift in the New World.” Video Movie Guide 1996 (New York: Random House, 1995), p.527.
The film’s ending is ending, however, is pure Hollywood, which is one reason why critic Roger Ebert, usually generous with both stars and upward pointing thumbs, gives “Far and Away” only two stars of a possible four. 1998 Pocket Video Guide (Kansas City: Andrew McMeel Publishing, 1997), p. 16. My students give this film an average rating of 7 - right between Martin-Porter and Ebert. They realize that the film features a number of improbable coincidences, but still has a lot to say about the Irish-American experience.
Day 1 questions
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1. What did Joseph learn from his father?
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2.What happened at the Christie home?
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3. Describe Joseph and Shannon.
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4. What happened when Joseph and Shannon arrived in Boston?
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5. How does the film show religious and social class differences among the Irish?
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Day 2 questions
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1. Who probably destroyed the Christie home?
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2. Who found it harder to adjust to America- Joseph or Shannon? Why?
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3. How successful was Joseph’ boxing career?
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4. How did Joseph and Shannon’s feelings for each other change during the movie?
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5. What discrimination did Irish-Americans face?
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6. Describe Irish-American relations with Italian-Americans.
Day 3 questions
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1. How does the race for land in Oklahoma symbolize America?
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2. Was the ending realistic or “Hollywood”? Why?
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3. What were the main themes of the film?
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4. Evaluate the film in detail, giving reasons for your comments.
“AVALON” Jewish-Americans, 1990, 126 minutes, PG
“Avalon” comes close to being a great movie. Armin Mueller-Stahl is memorable as a first generation Jewish grandfather whose first image of America is a Fourth of July celebration. Mueller-Stahl, a German actor, makes his character seem totally Jewish. The same can not be said of Aidan Quinn, who plays Sam’s assimilated son Jules Kay. I believe Richard Dreyfuss, who worked with director Barry Levinson in “Tin Men”, would have been a better choice for this part.
Roger Ebert sees this film as a tale of how a strong extended family degenerates over time into an isolated nuclear one. 1998 Roger Ebert’s Video Companion (Kansas City:Andrew McNeels Publishing, 1997), p. 44. I like to emphasize the risk-taking and creative thinking necessary for success in business.
The story is slow-moving, which is why my students rate the movie higher for educational value than for entertainment value.
Day 1 questions
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1. Describe Sam Krichinsky.
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2. What do we learn about the Krichinsky family from their Thanksgiving dinner.
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3. How did Jules Kay and his cousin Izzy Kirk do in the television business?
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4. What problems did moving to the suburbs bring for the Kay/Krichinsky family?
Day 2 questions
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1. How did Sam Krichinsky feel about his son changing his last name to Kay?
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2. Give at least one example of Jewish humor in the film.
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3. How did Thanksgiving dinner help create a split between Sam and his brother Gabriel?
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4. Why were Sam and Eva Krichinsky upset about their son playing golf?
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5. Why did Sam resign from the Family Circle?
Day 3 questions
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1. The burning of the store was presented with much symbolism. Discuss this symbolism.
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2. What made Eva’s death so painful to her husband?
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3. What were the movie’s main themes?
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4. Rate the movie on a 1 to 10 scale for both educational and entertainment value, giving your reasons.
“A BRONX TALE” Italian-Americans, 1993, 122 minutes, R for violence and profanity
Year after year my students rate “A Bronx Tale” higher than any other film we see. It is easy to see why. Mick Martin and Marsha Porter call the movie an “atmospheric, exquisitely detailed character study of a youngster torn between his hard-working bus-driver dad (played by director Robert DeNiro) and the flashy mobster (played superbly by screenwriter Chazz Palminteri) who rules their Bronx neighborhood. (p.482)
Roger Ebert gives the film four stars, praising its subplot of interracial romance, which seems just a bit out of sync to me, while claiming the film’s importance is that “it’s about values. About how some boys grow up into men who can look at themselves in the mirror in the morning, and others just go along with the crowd, forgetting after a while that they ever had a choice.” (p. 115)
The educational value of this film may not match its entertainment value, but there are a number of good themes to discuss. The sound track and the cinematography are also exceptional.
Day 1 questions
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1. Where and when does the story take place?
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2. Describe the Anello family: Lorenzo, Rosina, and their son Calogero.
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3. Describe Sonny and his friends.
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4. After the shooting, what should Calogero have done? Why?
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5. If you had been Lorenzo, would you have taken the $150/week from Sonny? Why or why not?
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6. How did Sonny influence Calogero?
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7. How did Lorenzo react to Sonny’s influence on “C”?
Day 2 questions
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1. Describe C’s friends.
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2. List two pieces of advice Sonny gives C. How does this differ from Lorenzo’s advice?
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3. Describe C as a young man.
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4. Describe Jane and her relationship with C.
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5. How did C react when his friends attacked the young black men?
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6. Describe Sonny’s “door test.”
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7. What prevented Jane from having her first date with C?
Day 3 questions
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1. What happened to C’s friends? What happened to Sonny?
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2. What were the movie’s main themes? Rate the movie on a 1 to 10 scale.
“THE LONG WALK HOME” African-Americans, 1991, 97 minutes, PG
“The Long Walk Home” is a story of courage and salvation. Whoopi Goldberg plays Odessa Cotter, a maid who quietly supports the Montgomery bus boycott and inadvertently converts her employer Miriam Thompson, played by Sissy Spacek, to the cause. This film was not a huge box office success, but I get the feeling that many teachers around the country are showing it to their students. It is a moving story which shows ordinary people in an extraordinary time period. Roger Ebert suggests that by making Miriam’s daughter Mary Catherine the narrator, director Richard Pearce is making it clear that this film is intended for white audiences. (p. 473) My experiences suggest otherwise. My students are almost all African-American. When Miriam’s moderately racist husband punches his totally racist brother at the end of the film, whoops and hollers fill the room. Mr. Ebert may have missed the bus here, but he and virtually every other film critic love “The Long Walk Home’ as much as my students and I do.
Discussion questions
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1. When does the story take place? How can you tell?
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2. Who are the main characters? Who is the narrator?
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3. What does the first scene in the park symbolize?
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4. How did the boycott affect the following?
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a. Odessa?
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b. Miriam?
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c. Odessa’s family?
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d. Miriam’s family?
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e. the city of Montgomery?
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f. the rest of the U.S.?
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5. Did any characters change during the movie? If so, how?
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6. What was the meaning of the incident with the three white boys on the bus?
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7. Discuss the importance of the scene where Odessa announces her intention to quit.
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8. Discuss the significance of the movie’s final scene.
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9. What was your reaction to the movie? Rate the film on a 1 to 10 scale, giving reasons.
Short essay topics:
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1. Write a character sketch of Odessa, Miriam, Herbert, Norman, or Tucker.
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2. Describe the philosophy behind the Montgomery bus boycott.
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3. Tell how both Odessa and Miriam became stronger individuals during “The Long Walk Home.”
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4. Compare “The Long Walk Home” with other films dealing with Black-White relations.
“MY FAMILY” (“MI FAMILIA”) Mexican-Americans, 1995, 122 min., R for violence, profanity, drugs, and nudity
My students give this family saga mixed reviews - and so do the movie critics. Roger Ebert, describing the film’s final scene, says, “Rarely have I felt at the movies such a sense of time and history, of stories and lessons passing down the generations, of a family living in its memories.” (p. 554) Ebert’s four star rating, his maximum, contrasts sharply with that of Martin and Porter, who give “My Family” three of a possible five stars because the narrative is “spread too thin.” (p. 734)
Everyone seems to agree that the acting is superb. All this makes the decision to include the film as part of my curriculum an easy one. Many of us on the east coast know very little of Mexican-Americans and their culture. “My Family” thus has great educational as well as entertainment value. Ebert is on target in calling this “the great American story”.(p. 553) I would add that the great American story is more about commonalities than about differences, especially where ethnicity is concerned.
Day 1 questions
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1. Who is the narrator?
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2. Describe the narrator’s father and mother, Jose and Maria Sanchez.
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3. Describe the narrator’s brother Chucho and his sister Toni.
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4. What significant events took place at the wedding?
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5. Why was Chucho put out of the house?
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6. What happened at the dance?
Day 2 questions
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1. Why do you think the director showed Chucho’s death along with scenes of baseball and “I Love Lucy”?
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2. How did Toni surprise the family?
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3. Why did Jimmy get married? How did his marriage turn out?
Day 3 questions
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1. What happened to Jimmy after Isabel died?
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2. What happened to Memo (William)?
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3. How would you describe the Gillespies’ visit to the Sanchez home?
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4. Describe Jimmy’s relationship with his son Carlito.
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5. Did the Sanchez family achieve the American dream? Why or why not?
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6. What were the film’s main themes?
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7. How would you rate this movie? Why?
