United 93

PART ONE:

I think that United 93 was by far the most toughing movie that we have watched.  Obviously, seeing as this class is 'history through film', each movie is about a historical event.  However, I think this movie was the most toughing because this happened in our generation.  Although we were too young to remember what happened, this affected our parents, our cousins, our aunts and uncles, our grandparents.  This was the first film that really had a direct impact on the people that we are still surrounded with.  Honestly, I never really knew much about 9/11.  This might be the most embarrassing thing I could say and I know that I should be ashamed of myself for this, but up until watching this film, I was unaware that there were four planes on 9/11.  My completely ignorant self thought that there were only two planes that crashed into the two twin towers.  However, in my defense, I do think that that is what people first think of when they think of 9/11.  I liked that this movie, though, brought light to the not so talked about part of 9/11 that was still extremely important and tragic.  I also liked how real this movie felt.  Although I don't think it was necessary to show a three minute clip of a woman putting on her lip balm, I do like how the director focused on showing that these were regular people.  Regular people boarding a regular flight doing regular things.  None of them knew what was coming.  They were all average Joe's.  I think that is why this film was so powerful.  It was so crazy to think that this happened and that it wasn't fiction made for pure entertainment.  This movie left me shaking and really opened my eyes what 9/11 really was and how awful it was.

PART TWO:

This movie filled me with hope.  Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a tragic event to feel safe, but now I can say that I never feel unsafe on a flight.  This event showed me that our country is extremely strong and capable of anything.  We live in one of the strongest countries in the world, and although on 9/11 it didn't seem that way, I know in my heart that we have gained the skill and intelligence needed for a catastrophic event like this to never happen again.  

PART THREE:

We should never forget the lives we lost that day.  We should never forget the vulnerability and sadness that an entire nation felt that day.  We should never forget how weak the entire nation was that day.  In order to be strong, to prosper, to move forward, we need to remember our weakest points.  If we forget about this, we will forget about everything we gained from it- which were the tools needed to make this country safer and stronger.  

The Shawshank Redemption

"Andy Dufresne- who crawled through a river of sh*t and came out clean on the other side."

The Shawshank Redemption.  A timeless classic.  It may be a bold claim to say that this is on everyone's top movie list- but I can say safely that it is on a large majorities.  I loved this movie.  Everything about this movie.  From beginning to end.  I have absolutely not a single negative thing to say about it.  This movie taught me valuable life lessons because to me this film is a film about patience and loyalty.  I loved that this movie was narrated through Red's point of view.  In part because, like many others, I have an odd obsession with Morgan Freeman's voice, but also because I loved seeing what the character of Andy Dufresne was like through his eyes from the start of the story to the end.  This movie hit absolutely every emotion in my body.  It gave me hope, but not exactly a hope you feel good about, almost a false sense of hope.  It gave me sadness, sadness over the unfair and harsh realities of the world.  It gave me happiness, a happiness that you feel when you accomplish something you've been working hard at- or when you finally get to hug someone you've been thinking about endlessly after a while of not seeing them.  But above all, this movie made me feel good.  Now, when I listen to the soundtrack all those emotions, that were experienced throughout the course of a three hour long film, rush to the very surface of my body, and I feel like this is the only movie that has been able to accomplish that for me.  I've seen this movie once before, but broken up into parts.  Finally watching it from beginning to end was definitely a different experience and had a different impact on me.  I've already ordered the hard copy of this film (sorry dad) and am very excited to pass it around to my friends and family until everyone that I associate with can successfully say they have experienced the film The Shawshank Redemption.