Message from madams

[Anonymous]

Two of the movies that were suggested in class were Rhapsody of August and Grave of the Firefly.

Last year in my U.S. history class I realized to late that I had misplaced my copy of Letters from Iwo Jima. I wish I had discovered that earlier because this film is amazing. It shows the war in the Pacific from the point of view of Americans and Japanese, all relating back to the letters that they are writing to their loved ones. Check out the synopsis on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498380/

The movie I ended up showing instead was Flags of Our Fathers, which chronicles the lives of 3 soldiers and their experience in the war and after the war. I like it because students get to see the violence and are introduced to the horrors of the war in the Pacific. The movie chronicles one Native American soldier and allows us to see the discrimination that Native Americans still faced in the 1940's. The main story though that the film is talking to the viewer is about how the flag was raised on Iwo Jima. Here is the synopsis on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418689/

These are the only films I show depicting war in the Pacific. I usually make sure to show Night and Fog, which is only 30 minutes, but makes an impression on the students about the significance and horror of the Holocaust.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_and_Fog_%28film%29