Inspiring Stories
These lists feature a variety of films – classic oldies, compelling dramas, award-winning international films, anime, and more. You may include one film on each Summer Reading log. (You can talk to your parents if you have questions about whether a film is appropriate you. (*** before the title of a film signifies that the film is rated R).
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Robin Williams portrays English professor John Keating, who, in an age of crew cuts, sport coats and cheerless conformity, inspires his students to live life to the fullest, exclaiming "Carpe Diem, lads! Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary!" The charismatic teacher's emotionally charged challenge is met by his students with irrepressible enthusiasm--changing their lives forever.
DVD / DEA
Gandhi (1982)
Gandhi was an extraordinary man who fought for a non-violent, peaceful existence and set an entire nation free. This is an intriguing story of activism, politics, religious tolerance and freedom.
DVD / GAN
High Noon (1952)
The classic tale of a lawman who stands alone to defend a town of cowardly citizens against a gang of revenge-seeking criminals. In the greatest showdown in the history of cinema, the lawman stands to lose not only the town but his new wife.
DVD / HIG
Hotel Rwanda (2005)
Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.
DVD / HOT
I am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School (1993)
A captivating portrait of the children of Stanton Elementary School in North Philadelphia, an inner-city neighborhood where 90% of the students live below the poverty line. As seen from the viewpoint of the principal, this film shows Stanton as underfunded, understaffed and filled with children struggling to overcome their difficulties. For these at-risk kids growing up outside the American dream, the only hope for their future survives in their success of their education.
DVD / 371.0091732 / I
In America (2002)
Told by 11-year-old Christy, a child wise beyond her years. An Irish couple bring their two young daughters to America in search of a better life. Christy and her sister, Ariel find New York's Hell’s Kitchen a place of magic where anything is possible. To their parents, it represents a place to begin anew. Carried by the girls' youthful hope and faith, the family finds the heart to live and love again.
DVD / IN
Paper Clips (2003)
Students at Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee decide to collect six million paper clips to better understand the concept of the six million people who died in the Holocaust. As word spreads online and in the media, paper clips poured in from around the world, eleven million of which are enshrined in an authentic German rail car standing in the schoolyard.
DVD / 940.5318 / PAP
Schindler’s List (1993)
A Steven Spielberg masterpiece, this historical drama tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a ruthless German businessman who chose to defy the Hitler regime by providing a refuge for hundreds of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust.
DVD / SCH
The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)
This HBO original movie stars Laurence Fishburne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Andre Braugher, and Cuba Gooding Jr. as members of the first African-American combat pilot unit in the U.S. Army Air Force. Although it's not a documentary, the film carefully recounts the real-life struggles of these pioneering men, who served their country during World War II.
VCV / TUS
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