There are numerous films which may be adapted for the themes and issues addressed in this unit. However, keeping in mind that we are introducing students to geography and therefore some place new and different I chose the following films:
Salaam Bombay: India, 1988
The history of the making of this film is as interesting as the film itself. The filmmaker, Mira Nair, whose more famous recent film is "Monsoon Wedding", gathered a group of street children from Bombay and talked with them about their experiences, visiting the streets and train stations, bazaars and poverty stricken districts where many of them lived. Out of these interviews emerged a film that was a composite of several lives.
Chaipau, a boy who works for the traveling circus, is one day sent on an errand and returns to find that the circus has packed up and disappeared. He takes a train to Bombay hoping to return to his native village and find his mother, who is also displaced. Chaipau can not read or write and he's not quite sure where his village is. He eventually disappears into the ranks of thousands of children who live on the streets of Bombay.
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Although the streets are a cruel and dreadful place, they are not entirely without hope. A small community is formed among the children and they eventually manage to do the best they can for themselves.
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Even though the film is filled with moments of occasional happiness and camaraderie, the tone of the film is predominantly bittersweet and poignant. It is important for students to see, without glossy Hollywood sentimentalism, the realities of children their age, in a vastly different part of the world.
Central Station (Central do Brazil): Brazil, 1998
Nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film, Central Station takes place in Brazil. It moves from the busy central station of Rio de Janeiro to the rural landscapes of the countryside. It presents the story of Josue, a boy of nine, who has lost his mother in a car accident and whose only acquaintance is Dora, a letter writer for illiterate people. Together they embark on a hopeful and adventurous journey through Brazil in search of Josue's family. It is a touching story of one's woman loneliness and a young boy's quest to belong to someone.
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This film deals with all the trials and tribulations of migration and adaptation. We are able to see the extent of displacement among Josue's family as he searches for his father and is presented with brothers he never knew he had.
Udju Azul di Yonta (Blue Eyes of Yonta): Guinea-Bissau, Africa, 1988
The story of three people: Vincente, a hero of the revolution and now a prosperous businessman, struggles to find inner peace as he weighs the benefits of Guinea's liberation from the Portuguese and the daily struggles of power shortages and unemployment; Yonta, the beautiful girl in love with Vincente. She represents the new generation of Guinea, reaping the benefits of Western luxuries like discos, music and makeup, and while she respects those who fought for the liberation of her country she wants the freedom to choose her own destiny; Ze' , a poor student from the country, writes Yonta beautiful love letters, originally intended for a Swedish girl, thus the "Blue Eyes." He is all but ignored by Yonta as she pursues the much older Vincente.
High school students will relate to the young adults in this film which portrays the needs and wants that are common to most teenagers.
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Throughout the film there are generational struggles, which exemplify the difficulties that not only countries, but cultures face, as liberation and ultimately modernization, take place.
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The wedding of Yonta's best friend allows us to witness how the old traditions of marital offerings such as liquor and gourds are interrupted with new, harsh realistic intrusions such as condoms, to ward off the reality of AIDS, being brought home by infidelity.
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The children throughout the movie keep optimism afloat and ultimately dream the possibilities the future holds for them, a future they are able to control thanks to their predecessors, who seem to have forgotten the reasons for which they fought.
