Have you seen "Paperclips"?

[disneysteve]

We watched this last night. Wow! I've seen plenty of movies that made me cry a bit at the end but we cried through this entire film. This should be a must-see for every human being on the planet.

For those not familiar with the story, a middle school in rural Tennessee began learning about the Holocaust to teach the kids the dangers of intolerance and prejudice. This was a town that was almost 100% white Protestant residents. No Catholics, no Jews almost no blacks. Early on, one child asked what 6 million was. He just couldn't comprehend/visualize 6 million of something. They ended up starting a drive to collect 6 million paperclips to represent the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

The movie goes on to detail the process and how it spread from a local effort to an international event and culminated in the establishment of a permanent Holocaust memorial on the grounds of the school.

It is a very powerful, and sometimes disturbing, film but well worth seeing. It is currently running on HBO but I'm sure it will turn up on DVD in a few months.

 

[drgnfly30]

Yes.. highly recommended... just hearing the number doesn't put a real meaning to the impact of the holocaust... but seeing that number represented in a physical object is overwhelming...

 

[Charade]

I added it to my Netflix queue but it's not available yet.

 

[Cindy B]

ITs already on DVD. Its on my queue from Blockbuster. It was released about a week ago according to my queue. Technically it was released on 12/6, but they the release date changed. I saw it for sale at my local Blockbuster about a week ago.

I've heard buzz about this movie in the local school district. I wouldn't be suprised if that became required viewing with either middle or high school students holocaust units.

 

[disneysteve]

I just checked Amazon. They are listing a release date of March 7, 2006 but it can be preordered now.

 

[TurboKitty]

It seems for the time being, Blockbuster Video has made this one of their "exclusives", before wide release next year. If you want to see it before that, and don't have HBO, that would be the only place to rent it.

From a bio of Elie Landau


"Recent film credits include the award-winning documentary film "Paper Clips" (currently on HBO and exclusive at Blockbuster, prior to a wide DVD release next year). "

 

[disneysteve]

If you want to see it before that, and don't have HBO, that would be the only place to rent it.

Or find a friend with HBO to tape it for you like we did. We don't have HBO, or cable TV for that matter.

 

[tinkerrn]

I have heard this is an incredible movie. I had heard about it from a co-worker. I am excited to know that I will be able to rent it.

 

[disneysteve]

Only problem is now we want to plan a trip to Tennessee to visit the memorial.

 

[Cindy B]

My copy is coming soon it states available now, but it is my position 8 or 9 on my queue.

Yes, I had heard the Blockbuster sometimes has exclusive deals so I guess this is one of them. I'm sure I'll get it soon.

 

[Sparx]

I'm in Middle Tennessee. Do you know where it was filmed?

 

[disneysteve]

I'm in Middle Tennessee. Do you know where it was filmed?

Whitwell

 

[Sparx]

thanks. I was wondering if it was near me. It isn't. I've not heard about it, but I'll try and watch it when it comes out on dvd.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Well, I was running through the channel line-ups and saw "Paperclips" on one of the HBO channels. I remembered seeing the title of this thread, and thought ... Hmmm, a DISer is recommending it...

So now I sit with stuffy nose, and tears are still leaking. What an incredible story. Now I want my teens to watch it, and I wish that more schools could actually talk to Holocaust survivors to understand the horror they went through - to appreciate what we have, and to work hard to not just sit by when witnessing prejudism.

What a wonderful project for that school to undertake, and to continue with their tours.

Thanks, Steve, for recommending.

 

[janette]

Thanks for the heads up. I'd read some review on this and wanted to see it. Put it at the top of my Blockbuster queue.

 

[ElizK]

I hadn't heard of this movie but will be interested in seeing it.

I remember when I was in about 4th grade a Holocaust survivor visited my school and talked about his experiences. That really made a huge impact on me, hearing it first hand. As that generation dies it will be harder to pass that impact on.

It's actually the Holocaust that makes me support what we've done in Iraq. Germany kept breaking the rules made for them after WWI, but no one did anything. If someone had had the guts and backbone to stop Hitler at the beginning of his reign of terror, how many millions wouldn't have died?

Sorry. Didn't mean to go off on a tangent.

 

[disneysteve]

Well, I was running through the channel line-ups and saw "Paperclips" on one of the HBO channels. I remembered seeing the title of this thread, and thought ... Hmmm, a DISer is recommending it...

So now I sit with stuffy nose, and tears are still leaking. What an incredible story. Now I want my teens to watch it, and I wish that more schools could actually talk to Holocaust survivors to understand the horror they went through - to appreciate what we have, and to work hard to not just sit by when witnessing prejudism.

What a wonderful project for that school to undertake, and to continue with their tours.

Thanks, Steve, for recommending.

You're very welcome Mary Jo.

BTW, the official site for the Paper Clips Project is:
http://www.marionschools.org/holocaust/

 

[kayeandjim00]

I finally caught this today (for HBO customers it's now on HBO On Demand) what an amazing story. I cried all the way through and found it incredibly moving. I have it on our list of places to visit, I can't imagine how moving it would be to see it in person. Thanks for alerting us to the movie!

 

[disneysteve]

FYI - The movie is out on DVD now. We got it a couple of weeks ago. This should be in everyone's library. You should also be able to get it from Netflix now also.