To Kill a Mockingbird
Rarely does a great book become a great movie – but this is one that has become legendary both as a novel and a film. Gregory Peck brings the wise and principled Atticus Finch to life, raising his children, ridding the town of mad dogs, and defending Tom Robinson, a black man wrongfully accused of rape. Its lessons of prejudice and compassion resonate today – lessons that have inspired multiple generations of lawyers.
Schindler’s List
Steven Spielberg’s tour de force about the Holocaust is based on the true story of industrialist Oscar Schindler (played by Liam Neeson). Schindler knew he could not save all of the Jews from Hitler’s slaughtering machine, but he was determined to save as many as he could. In today’s world, young people need to realize that a single person can make a difference, and even if we can’t change the entire world, it is still worth saving what we can.
It Happened One Night
Every generation thinks that it invents sex and romance. This movie, made nearly 90 years ago, demonstrates the fallacy of that belief. Even today, this original rom-com starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert is funny, romantic, and sexy. And the humor holds up right until the walls of Jericho come tumbling down. The lesson to young people: your parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents were a lot cooler and sexier than you ever thought.
12 Angry Men
A civics lesson in black and white. Twelve jurors are locked away to decide the fate of a teenager accused of murder. Anger, prejudice, and reason are bantered about in a hot, steamy New York City jury room. A splendid ensemble cast led by Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, and Jack Klugman brings confrontations and emotions front and center. It is about how prejudice can skew our view of facts, something even more important today.
Atonement
Many might view this as an odd choice, but this powerful film carries several important lessons for young people. The film (and book) begins on the cusp of World War II when a precocious young girl glimpses and misunderstands an act of love between her older sister and a young man. She tells her elders about what she thought was a rape, and as a result, the world of everyone involved is turned upside down. It is a story about how false stories can tear apart lives and the soul-ripping consequences that cannot be undone. The lesson is clear in this world of social media.
Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck’s classic of a desperate family traveling from Dust Bowl Oklahoma to California is transformed in John Ford’s film, which is equal to the novel. Henry Fonda gives a legendary performance as Tom Joad, but the heart and soul of the movie are provided by Jane Darwell as Ma and John Carradine as a preacher who has lost his faith. The heart-wrenching drama leaves a lesson that those who are poor are not in their circumstances due to laziness, stupidity, or dishonesty. They have the same value as all other humans.
Iris
Starring Judy Dench and Kate Winslet, playing the older and younger version of renowned author Iris Murdoch, who died of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease. This is a beautiful movie about living life to the fullest, enduring love, aging, and the ravages of Alzheimer’s, even among the most brilliant and talented of people. There is a message that seniors were once young, too, something that is often lost on younger people. Seniors still have their dreams. And when Alzheimer’s strikes, in all the sadness and frustration, there still is love.
Nebraska
Another movie of which most people may not be aware. Nebraska is a bitter-sweet and sometimes laugh-out-loud movie centered around Bruce Dern’s Oscar-worthy performance as an old man seeking to get to Nebraska to cash in a winning lottery ticket. Filmed in black and white, the cinematography is nothing short of spectacular, catching the bleakness of the great American plains in the time between harvest and planting. It is a story about the value of family, dysfunctional as it may be.