Subject: Film on fragile networks?

Posted by Niall Palfreyman on 4/2/2010

Message:

Hi,
I'm a bit surprised I hadn't thought earlier of asking this question on the list, but it seems to me you are just the right people to answer it.
I'm leading a confirmation group of 7 teenagers (about 14 years old), and we're using films to cover three areas of responsibility in life:
self, others and the environment. We've already done two of the meetings, and I'm still looking for a film and activity for the third.
Just to give you an idea, the previous two meetings were:

1. Responsibility for myself. Film: "Groundhog Day". Afterwards we discussed what changed in Bill Murray's outlook on the world during the course of the film. We then thought about the kind of lives the teenagers wanted to live and what kind of people they wanted to become.
At the end each wrote themselves a private letter in which they congratulated their future self on living the kind of life they wanted for themselves. They sealed this letter and took it home.

2. Responsibility for my fellow human beings. Film: "The Boy in Striped Pyjamas". Afterwards we discussed the issue of human rights abuses in the world, and what we can do to help defend the rights of political prisoners. I then introduced Amnesty International case of a film-maker who has been 'disappeared' by his government for making a film expressing dissent amongst local farmers. The teenagers wrote a letter to the relevant embassy in Berlin, then took it home to show their parents before sending it off.

OK, so now I need to find a suitable film (plus activity?) for number
three: Responsibility for our world. What I really want to bring across to them is some sense of the complexity of the system we live in and the need to take account of the effects of our actions. For instance the ideas in "An Uncomfortable Truth" go in the right direction, however the group is not terribly academic, and one boy had trouble sitting through "Groundhog Day". I thought about "Wall-E", but that doesn't really deal with complexity, and I find "The Day After Tomorrow" uncomfortably sensationalist. After "The Boy in Striped Pyjamas" I promised them a happier ending, and in general I've promised them exciting films rather than dull documentaries.

So: Does anyone have any bright ideas for a film? The date is Friday in two weeks' time, and I'll need to order anything I try from Amazon beforehand. Oh, and it needs to be well enough known that I can find it in German. I know that's a steep list of requirements, but maybe you can help ...

Many thanks,
Niall Palfreyman.

Follow Ups:

Film on fragile networks? - Michael Skelly 4/5/2010 
Film on fragile networks? - Dexter Chapin 4/5/2010 
Film on fragile networks? - Brian Tucker 4/2/2010 
Film on fragile networks? - Niall Palfreyman 4/7/2010
Film on fragile networks? - Niall Palfreyman 4/23/2010