It has been a while that I have written about movies. I thought of taking the opportunity of 5th September, Teacher's Day, to write something about a few films that have inspired me a lot. There was a time when I used to rely on IMDB ratings to select my movie watchlist. However, recently, I have found out few good movies that have not been rated very high by popular movie-rating sites like IMDB or Rottentomatoes. So I have decided to watch and share about films that I feel are inspiring and can spread positive messages, irrespective of their ratings.
Today I have enlisted 5 such films about teachers and students that are very inspiring and bring value to anyone's life.
Top 5 Inspiring Movies to watch on Teacher's Day
1. To Sir, with Love: The first time I watched this movie, I could not stop thinking about it. This 1967 film, starring Sidney Poitier, was adapted from the autobiographical Best-seller of the same name. It is about an immigrant teacher who accepts his job to teach a class of rejected students. How he manages to win the heart of this hostile bunch of students is what leads to next. Although most movies about teachers almost revolve around the same topic, this movie was a pioneer.
2. Dead Poet's Society: John Keating, an English teacher with a very unorthodox approach to teaching, is constantly threatened by the strict disciplinarian Headmaster, Gale Nolan. An ex-member of the unsanctioned Dead Poet's Society, he inspires his students to reform the club and to live life extraordinarily. This 1989 film starred Robin Williams as John Keating and Ethan Hawk as Todd Anderson in the lead roles.
3. Mona Lisa Smile: This 2003 film, starring Julia Roberts in the lead role, is about a History teacher, Katherine Ann Watson, who introduces the concept of modern art to a class of quite conservative students. After some initial objections from a few students, Katherine popularised her course in the college and, as described by one of her students, stood out to be " an extraordinary woman who lived by example and compelled all to see the world through new eyes".
4. Dangerous Minds: This 1995 film is about an ex-marine who finds a job as a teacher in a city school that consists of a rowdy gang of students from the working class background. Michelle Pfeiffer stars in this drama as LouAnne Johnson, the teacher who does not leave any stones unturned to win the hearts of her class and finally succeeds after many obstacles.
5. Freedom Writers: Erin Gruwell, a newly appointed English teacher, smoothly channelises racial slurs and crude jokes against her to teach about "The Holocaust" to a gang of hostile students. This 2007 film stars Hilary Swank in the lead role. A strongly determined woman whose only aim is to reform her students applies various methods to finally make them aware of the consequences of fights, gang wars and racism. This movie is an adaptation of the book, The Freedom Writer's Diary.
So, these are some of the films one can watch on the occasion of Teacher's Day. Interestingly some of these films have been remade in Hindi and have become quite popular. To Sir with Love was remade in Hindi as Imtihan in 1974. The movie Mohabbatein was loosely based on Dead Poet's Society. The film Hitchki was again inspired by Dangerous Minds and Freedom Writers.
Have you watched any of these films? If not, which one would you want to watch?
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