Educational movies

Following a previous post I thought a little about the movies that students should be watching - these are the results:

Nature/Science

Nature and science in films is not usually treated with much respect beyond being a Mcguffin to move the plot along. Sometimes there are good efforts that really engage with the students and with the subject matter. Use of nature in films or great cinematography is one avenue that can be taken with these films, there are also some fantastic documentaries out there including two recently from Werner Herzog.

• The Day After Tomorrow Is silly beyond compare. The world is thrown into environmental catastrophe to such an extent that the Atlantic freezes. Beyond the science is an interesting eco message and a half decent adventure story.
• An Inconvenient Truth won the Oscar for best documentary. It is actually a lecture. Former USA Vice President Al Gore goes through the climate change issues facing us at the moment. It is well worth a watch and will open up any number of questions for the interested viewer.
• Twister is a drama about storm chasers in the USA. It is really a special effects feast, set on the plains of the mid-west. A meteorologists dream.
• Dante’s Peak and Volcano are films that have been highly ridiculed by volcanologists. The first is the story of the eponymous erupting volcano while the second actually has a volcano erupting in Los Angeles. Utter nonsense that students with the slightest handle on volcanology can rip to shreds.
• March of the Penguins (Documetary about the harsh existence for a colony of penguins. It is worth pointing out the footage and underlying message was taken on by a number of Christian groups in the USA)
• A Beautiful Mind (Biopic of the economist John Nash, the man responsible for Game Theory)

Science fiction

Sci-Fi should not be disregarded because of the fanciful nature of the tales. There is often a spot of science in these movies be it physics for space travel, or biology for the numerous genetic mutants, clones and cloned genetic mutants that stalk the land. Many of the movies will have a further reach. We should be wary of dismissing sci-fi as a legitimate art form as there is as much to discuss at the end of Blade Runner or Watchmen a there is to discuss at the end of Citizen Kane. All three are marvellous films and all three will deal with the human condition. Film will never be a substitute for books, but the film may inspire the student to seek out the books of the films writer. 

• Sunshine (a trip to re-start the Sun- psychologically demanding and spectacular special effects)
• The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Funny and philosophically demanding)
• Watchmen (Set in an alternate timeline, Nixon is president in 1985 and masked vigilantes form part of the law enforcement system. A good film for the deeper issues about responsibility, society and the odd moment of physics at work.)
• 2001 A Space Odyssey (Psychedelic sci-fi concerning itself with Man’s development and place in the universe)
• Blade Runner (The core question from this film is ‘what is it to be human?’)
• Logan’s Run (Set in a dystopian society where everyone is required to kill themselves at 30 years of age it provides any number of points for discussion about society and the right way to run one. Other films to see in this dystopian sub-genre are 1984, THX 1138, Gattaca)

Biopic

Biopics, or Biographical pictures are good for history class, but also for giving the student a further connection with their past, a shared history and to expand their horizons. Additionally most biopics will have a particular slat to them that can be used in discussions.

• Nixon (Anthony Hopkins as the disgraced US President)
• Gandhi (Ben Kingsley in Richard Attenborough’s Oscar winning biopic of the father of modern India)
• Malcolm X (Denzel Washington stars in Spike Lee’s fantastic film on the martyred civil rights leader)
• Amazing Grace (Ioan Grufyyd as William Wilberforce, the slavery campaigner)
• The Queen (Helen Mirren as HM Queen Elizabeth II)
• Cromwell (Richard Harris as the creator of the new Model Army)
• A Man for All Seasons (Paul Scholfield)
• Joan of Arc (Milla Jovovich as the French warrior saint)
• When We Were Kings (A documentary following Muhammed Ali)
• Man on Wire
• The Duchess (Kiera Knightly)

There are so many more and the selection above speaks to my own interests - let me know what else should be on the lists

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