See the World at the Movies

Not every film that provides a glimpse of a foreign country or culture is a child friendly "Sound of Music." But it is worth screening new movies and animated features to find a "Brave" that introduces children to different countries.

     In fact, an amazing number of countries have been featured in Oscar-winning films: "ARGO" (Iran), "The King's Speech" (United Kingdom), "The Hurt Locker" (Iraq), "Slumdog Millionaire" (India), "Braveheart" (Scotland), "Schindler's List" (Poland), "The Last Emperor" (China), "Gandhi" (India).

     The Academy Awards also honor the best foreign language films. The 2011 winner, "A Separation" from Iran, provided positive recognition to a country sanctioned for its nuclear program and scorned in ARGO for holding U.S. citizens hostage. The director of the 2012 best foreign language winner, "Amour," is from Austria.

     Like foreign language films, animated and live action short subjects don't have wide-spread distribution, but, if they are shown locally, they can give youngsters insight into the lives of children in other countries. In "Asad," one of the 2012 live action nominees, we saw Somali children dealing with their dysfunctional world, and in another 2012 nominee, "Buzkashi Boys" opened our eyes to the limited opportunities for young boys in Afghanistan.

     Perhaps the best impact a film can have on a child is the realization that, not only can foreign be fun, but humor also can expose the foolishness of a situation by looking at it differently, the way a live action short about Rwanda's bloody Hutu-Tutsi struggle did a couple of years ago.