NIM’S ISLAND
Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin’s film is about a young girl, Nim (Abigail Breslin), left alone on an unchartered tropical island. Nim must fight off pirates, tourists and also find the time to save her, literally, lost-at-sea father (Gerard Butler, back when he was in films people wanted to see). To do this she contacts her hero Alex Rover, who is, in fact, author Alexander Rover, played by Jodie Foster.
With surprising subtlety, the film explores issues of masculinity and femininity, perseverance, creativity, determination, sacrifice and real bravery, as well as touching on environmental issues.
And it’s great fun.
MY LIFE AS A COURGETTE (ZUCCHINI)
This film is most definitely for older classes as Claude Barras and Micahel Sinterniklaas delve into various childhood traumas in their gorgeously realised stop motion animation.
Set in an orphanage full of children suffering from various adult induced traumas the film follows 9-year-old Courgette as he comes to terms with being abandoned by his alcoholic mother. At the orphanage he finds children from similarly traumatic backgrounds. Although the film never shies away from the realities of their childhood it does so sensitively and always with an eye out for that triumphant moment where hope leads to love.
Although I highly recommend this film, I also think that you should watch it before teaching it and have a very carefully planned class ready for when the film finishes.
Powerful in all the right ways.
SONG OF THE SEA
What other film could I have finished on?
This is not only one of the most stunningly beautiful films but also one that contains all the positive aspects of those film mentioned above.
Ben (10) lives with his father and sister Saoirse (6) on an island off the Irish coast. Their mother disappeared after Saoirse’s birth. (There is a running theme in the films around the loss of a mother, a fear all children suffer from) As the story progresses it soon becomes apparent that Saoirse has magical powers. They must find her voice to control these powers and, also, escape their grandmother (a touch of Hansel and Gretal here).
One of the strengths of the film, like My Neighbour Totoro, is the realistic depiction of sibling interaction at this age. Watching it with my own children I have to stop my self from pointing to the screen and saying, ’Look. Now. See.!’ And then shaking my head in exasperation.
There are films that utilise folklore to such an extent that watching it becomes a deciphering exercise. Here Tomm Moore uses folklore in a similar way to Ghibli’s Spirited Away; you don’t have to understand the background tales on which the film is based in order to appreciate the magic they conjure. Indeed, the universal aspects of folklore and myth are what comes to the fore. If we know the references we enjoy the film in one way, if we don’t then the exotic nature of the film becomes equally enjoyable.
But the film is more than simply a beautiful modernising a various traditional tropes and characters; it is about family, love and responsibility.
But the film is more than a simple set of themes; it is also the perfect launch pad for any number of subjects a teacher wants to move on to next.
Maths? Look at all of those Fibonacci swirls.
Science and nature? One of the main characters is a selkie and much of the film takes place on the beach.
History? Why not start history with a few folk stories?
Art? Maybe you could start by counting the different shades of green Cartoon Saloon have discovered in the making of the film.
Irish? Learn the Irish song repeated in the film
If ever there was a film that should be shown to every child in the country than this is it.
These are only a few of the films that my daughter would have loved to have experienced in school, that she would have loved to have shared. She might still, she has a few years left.
And I didn’t even get to mention her favourite, Wolf Children.
18 CinÉireann / April 2018
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