A Life in Film

In high school I was known as the TV and Movie Buff because of all the films I can recall. I grew up in front of the television. I was a walking talking TV Guide. Studies show we shouldn't allow young children to watch tv because it lowers their IQ, I'm not about to challenge years of reseach but I am sure the things I learned 50% were from the media the remaining 50% from books. And people will agree that my IQ is not low. It's because when I was five I discovered something while I was watching other children play tag. Everything we do enhances something within us. It is up to you whether you learn to swim or sink. That's why every good film I watch gets absorbed and imprinted. I want to share to you my principles and philosophies; these are the films that made me and explain why I am this way. I hope you watch these films and start seeing how the lives of men can and will affect yours.

These films are in chronological order as to when I saw them. Most of them are real life stories. In bold are the tiltles and year of release. In itallics are the lessons and knowledge I acquired.

• Schindler's List(1993) You can save a man, an entire race even, all you have to do is decide and defy boundaries.
• Schindler could have chosen to live on the safe (and prosperous) side. But he couldn't bear seeing tons of people being sent to their death just because of their race. This was a man who saw what he needed to do and just did it.
• I was roughly 6 years old when I saw this film. I already knew that Hitler started WWII and he killed millions. What surprised me was the hatred he had for Jews. It was Schindler's List that made me interested in Hitler and what made him heartless.
• Braveheart (1995)  The oppressed exist because they let themselves be passive.
• This is a widely talked about film but all the public saw was another love story. What we often fail to see is the historical background of films. How oppressed Scotland was and how power by then was as unimaginable as royalties were allowed to pass pointless laws.  I saw this film in 1997 and I learned that kings and queens in real life were nowhere near the ones in fairytales. They were crazy, gluttonous and selfish men playing god.
• Empire of the Sun (1987) War does not choose who to attack, not even children are safe.
• Everyone will do anything for a potato. Even I at 8 already knew that. Empire of the Sun is the second world war shown in the eyes of a boy - how he felt abandoned, how he found friendship in the enemy, how he admired those who incarcerated him. Luckily at times like they adjust to the climate better than adults.
• Amistad (1997) A man's worth does not depend on the color of his skin nor the weight he can carry.
• At 9 I knew about the plight of the black people very well. I know that they were slaves and sold as property. I also was aware that the term 'Nigger' should never be used. What I didn't know was that there were rules to acquiring slaves. That they were considered lower than wheat that when a ship needs to lose weight they can be thrown overboard. Many people do not know the extent of suffering the black race went through. I do. It was clear to me as black and white.
• The Patriot (2000) There are things we wish we could hide from the next generation but if we leave them this world it is better for them to know how brutal men can be.
• A father will always strive to protect his family but children will end up doing what they want otherwise. At 11 years old I would do what I want and learn what I desired to learn. In The Patriot I couldn't help but think if the father told his sons that fighting in wars is not as glorious as the recruiters say he wouldn't have lost a son. Wars can make us do unimaginable things.
• Men of Honor(2000) It is everyone's right to be the best they can be. Going after your dream even if everyone says you can't will make the path rugged but the end sweeter.
• He was recruited in the navy to cook for white men. Men of Honor is another take on the hardships black men had to go through to get to their dreams. I was 11 and 'Cookie' made me realize I can do anything I set my eyes on.
• Pay It Forward (2000) It doesn't have to be big, a single act can change the world.
• I was only 12 (2001) when I watched this on a cable tv channel, about the same age as the movie's hero. The storyline hit me so hard I decided then and there to start my own homework. I wouldn't want to be one of those who just pass by Earth. I want to make a change before I leave. If a boy my age can I can as well.
• I am Sam (2001) Love cannot be measured by the power and capacity of the mind but by the fight you give to keep it.
• A father with the mental capacity of a 7 year old fighting to keep his 7 year old daughter with him. I was only 12 but even then I knew that a mentally handicapped father is better than an absentee father.
• We were soldiers(2002) Only in a war do we see casualties being rejoiced upon. It is when we congratulate a man for killing people.
• The Vietnam war is another controversial war in which the Americans decided to fight in. We know right from wrong, that killing a man regardless of what he's done is wrong. But in a war lines are blurred. Soldiers are taught to kill as much as they can. They couldn't even weep for the lost. They seek out revenge.
• I was 13 and this was my first formal introduction to the Vietnam war and it's controversial killings.
• Mona Lisa Smile (2003) Women were not meant to be in the shadows of men. We were meant to be leaders as well.
• Even in the 21st century people say women cannot equal men and will only marry. I was 13 when I saw Mona Lisa Smile and I could recall a time when a relative told my mother that having 3 girls is not good luck since we would just get married. I am meant to lead. I do not need a man to be successful. I can carry my father's name as good as any man can.
• Tears of the Sun (2003) Good men are not those who follow orders and do what they are expected of. They are the ones who go beyond expectations, doing what they know and believe is right at the face of challenges.
• They were tasked to rescue a doctor but they couldn't leave the entire village unprotected. These men chose to risk their lives for what they knew was right. I was 14 and I saw the good in not following orders all the time.
• Homeless to Harvard (2003) Go beyond what you were born into. Desire to rise from your current status. Money does not define intelligence. 
• Homeless to Harvard is the life story of a girl born to drug addicted parents (ones she had to take care of). She read an entire set of encyclopedias, except from one letter since their neighbor got it from the trash. She fought her way through ridicules in elementary and finished high school in 2 years. She went on to graduate from Harvard. I was 14 at the time I saw this, about to graduate from high school. This film encouraged me to take a course opposite the direction my relatives wanted. I knew I could do it even without much support because my odds werer better than hers and even she succeeded.
• Iron Jawed Angels (2004) Women are not property. We are, if not equal, more than our male counterparts for we had to fight hard to achieve what men get for free.
• I've always been a "whatever a man can do I can do" kind of girl. At 15 I was unsure of voting because voting meant chosing the lesser evil. Seeing this film made me embrace womanhood and my right to vote. Never will I miss a vote knowing what women around the world had to endure just to have a right that only men had.
• Coach Carter (2005) Student Athletes are students first and foremost. We play to get free education not the other way around. We can do more than we can concieve.
• I was in the University Varsity as early as 14, I was the youngest and competed against college students even when I was still a high school senior. Seeing this film at 16, and by then I was the team captain, I realized what most student athletes fail to see. The varsity was created to give athletic students a chance to good education and now most student athletes just throw it away. Academics must be prioritized, not medals. Afterall it is a university.
• The Triumph/The Ron Clark Story (2006) Set the bar high, believe and you can make it.
• This film made me embrace teaching as a part of life. We need to believe in our youth not pressure them. There's a big difference. In a time where teachers teach for the money, students fall through the cracks. Children need a support system.
• Freedom Writers (2007) Freedom is a right but you have to choose to take it for yourself.
• We cannot avoid being branded at birth. Some of us are born in Alabang while others in Tondo. You know what I mean. It was 2008 when I saw this film and I was touched by the teacher's dedication to her students. She deeply desired to free them from the brands society gave them. But the students must first want it for themselves.
• The Blind Side (2009) A family is not defined by blood and the genes they share but by the realtionship between them. We will do everything to protect family.
• When I saw the trailer I knew I had to watch this. A well off Southern white family (most southeners discriminate against blacks) chose to take in a black boy. They didn't know anything about him all they knew was he needed a family and that was enough to take him in as a member of the family. It's one thing to adopt a baby from another country, it's another thing to adopt a high school student. There is greatness in people and this is one of them.

I hope you watch all these films :).