For Friday: 6 Movies Every Human Being Needs To See

It’s movies again this week.  In particular, not summer blockbuster fare.  More specifcally, a few movies that help show us what it means to be human, and reflect back to us our selves – good and bad, courageous and fearful, honorable and less so.  One in the theater, five available on DVD.

The catalyst?  “Fruitvale Station,” which opens today.  The film won the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  It tells the true story of 22-year-old San Francisco Bay Area resident Oscar Grant, who “wakes up on the morning December 31, 2008 and feels something is in the air.”  New York Magazine’s David Edelstein says “It will rock your world.”  In his New York Times review, A.O. Scott voices the tough questions this film asks: “How could this have happened?  How did we – meaning any one of us who might see faces like our own depicted on that screen – allow it?”  A must-see this weekend.

Next, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the classic film based on the class novel by Harper Lee.  The performances, especially that of Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, tug at the heart and mind.  This is a fine movie, in the highest sense of the word, showing us what it means to be tolerant, compassionate, wise and courageous.

Third, “12 Angry Men.”  Another classic, black-and-white film with outstanding performances, this time anchored by the legendary Henry Fonda.  “12 Angry Men” teaches how to build consensus among a group of people with differing backgrounds, biases, viewpoints and personalities.  “In 2007, 12 Angry Men was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’.”

The next three belong to Steven Spielberg, who I believe has become the historical filmmaker of our time.  And I think we need one.  Someone who documents history, reminding us (because we need to be reminded), and in some cases teaching us, about what has taken place.  “Schindler’s List” and “Amistad,” so that we never forget – about The Holocaust and about the history of slavery in this country – so that they never happen again.  “Lincoln,” so that we understand the insight, strength, cunning and politicking required of one of the greatest U.S. presidents, in order to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (abolishing slavery) and to end the Civil War.  All three warrant repeated viewing, on occasion, so that we don’t forget.

For Friday: Flag Day

Image Source: Deposit Photos

Friday, June 14, 2013 – Flag Day.  I realized that I didn’t know much about it and thought there must be a few more like me.  So, a brief history.

Each year on the 14th day of June, the country marks the day on which the country adopted “the flag of the United States of America, which happened on that day in 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.”  As National Flag Day Foundation explains on their site:

Our mission is to carry on the tradition of the first flag day observance. On June 14th, 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand, a 19 year old teacher at Stony Hill School, placed a 10 inch, 38- star flag in a bottle on his desk then assigned essays on the flag and its significance. This observance, commemorated Congresses adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777. This observance was also the beginning of Cigrand’s long years of fervent and devoted effort to bring about national recognition and observance of Flag Day. The crowning achievement of his life came at age fifty when President Wilson, on May 30, 1916, issued a proclamation calling for a nation wide observance of Flag Day. Then in 1949, President Truman signed an Act Of Congress designating the 14th day of June every year as National Flag Day. On June 14th, 2004, the 108th U.S. Congress voted unanimously on H.R. 662 that Flag Day originated in Ozaukee County, Waubeka Wisconsin.

Stony Hill School. Image Source: Creative Commons

In 2012, photographer John Madere shot the September 11 Memorial Flag and created a time-lapse video of the process.

And, now you know.  Happy Flag Day.  Happy Weekend.