Holocaust Film Festival

Our film festival last summer was such a success, my princess and I decided to try it again this year.  Unfortunately, she studied the Holocaust this year in history, and decided she wanted to watch all the best Holocaust movies.  I begrudgingly agreed, though a couple of the movies I had sworn I would never watch again.  I dreaded each one. 

We jumped right in with Life is Beautiful.  My princess wasn't too sure about it, especially when she found out it was in Italian with English subtitles.  However, when I shared with her my reaction the first time I watched it (I got into bed with my then-four-old, who was the same age as the boy in the movie, and sobbed) she was intrigued.  I never wanted to watch it again, but I did, and I survived.  To my surprise, my princess cried and cried at the end.  She ran off right after the movie ended, and the next day admitted she went upstairs to cry some more.  It is such a beautiful movie, but I don't plan to ever watch it again.  It's just too sad. 

Next we watched Paperclips and The Pianist, neither of which I had previously seen.  Paperclips was recommended to us, and though interesting, we both thought it was too long.  It did give us a lot to talk about, though, as it is a documentary about middle school kids in a small town in Tennessee learning about the Holocaust.  We both loved The Pianist, though in fairness to Adrien Brody, we probably should have watched it before Life is Beautiful.  Nothing really had a chance afterwards.

We concluded our film festival with a special viewing of Schindler's List at a neighbor's house.  It was a special experience because our neighbor is Jewish, so we were able to gain a different perspective than we would have had alone in our family room.  Schindler's List is such a powerful film, and gives such an amazing portrayal of what life was like in the concentration camps. 

We had watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and Sophie's Choice prior to the summer, but we also compared them to the others.  Each movie moved us in its own way, and though I did not look forward to these movies, I am so glad to have experienced them with my daughter.  We had so many interesting conversations following the movies, and I think we both grew as people through the process.  I don't enjoy Holocaust movies, but they do force me to remember, every day, that life is beautiful. 

Feelings Film Festival

My princess is not very emotional.  She doesn't cry easily, and doesn't get into drama.  I tease that she has ice water running through her veins.  So last summer, I set out to find a movie that would make her cry (because what quality mother doesn't spend the summer trying to make her teenage daughter cry?)  I put my request on Facebook, and friends suggested the saddest movies of all time.  We watched them all summer.  Here are a few of the things I learned during this adventure. . .

1.  Although I've seen it dozens of times, the funeral scene in Steel Magnolias still makes me cry every time.  I have a guttural reaction to it, producing sobs that sound like a dying animal.  I'd like to say it's only because I am a mother, but I believe I reacted the same way almost 25 years ago, when the movie first came out. 

It does not, however, produce the same reaction in teenage girls.  At least not mine.

2.  Fried Green Tomatoes keeps its place on my Top 5 Movies of All Time.  It is funny, thoughtful, and sad, all the things a movie should be.  The cast is perfect, from Mary Stuart Masterson's maybe-lesbian hero, to Kathy Bates's insecure southern wife.  My daughter liked it, but didn't love it, and it didn't make her cry. 

3.  Most of the movies, in fact, did not make my princess cry. . . not Debra Winger's tearful death in Terms of Endearment, or Sophie's gut-wrenching choice.  It was the story of an eleven-year-old boy with an allergy to bees that finally touched her heart.  During the funeral scene in My Girl, I glanced at my daughter, who had tears streaming down her beautiful brown cheeks. 

It was good for me to see, to remember that despite how fast she's growing up, and how mature she sometimes seems to me, that my princess is still a little girl in many ways, and the death of a little boy would affect her more than the death of someone who probably seems old to her.  I'm glad now, looking back, that my girl is still just that.