Paper Clips
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Movie Reviews of Paper Clips
Movie Review: Moving, interesting and amazing @}->---
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fantastic documentary that should be seen by all. It's powerful and moving and simply amazing.
It's a story about a school in Whitwell, TN which is a small town about 24 miles North West of Chatanooga. There is only 2 traffic lights. Linda Hooper the school Principal talks about how there is such a lack of diversity in the school - no Jews, Catholics, only 5 black kids and 1 hispanic. The kids at the school were very sheltered and knew nothing about other cultures. She sent the assistant principal, David Smith to a conference in Chatanooga in 1998 to find a school project. He came back with the idea for a project on the Holocaust and approached the 8th grade teacher (Sandra Roberts) if she wanted to help. They set out to teach the kids about a totally different culture to their own. The goal was to teach them what happens when people are ignorant, predjudice and intolorant.
1998 started with the Holocaust project (the teachers were learning as they went too). When the kids found out that 6 million Jews were killed, one child asked how to comprehend how many was 6 million. That's how the project began because the teacher said for them to collect something and look at what 6 million actually looked like.
The kids found out that paper clips were invented in Norway and that during the Nazi occupation in Norway during World War II, Norwegians made the paper clip a symbol of national unity. They would wear the clips on their collars to represent the people in the holocaust. The kids asked to write to famous people and other schools to ask them to send clips. Tom Hanks, Tom Bosley, Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby are just some of the famous people that sent some to them.
Each year the next lot of 8th graders would take over from where the last years 8th graders left off. Clips came in spurts. Sometimes slowly and then heaps poured in. They were realising that this would take some time to collect them. After this story was released to NBC, clips came in thousands. Eventually they had about 24 million clips. The post office could no longer deliver them to the school; the school would have to come and collect them themselves because there were so many.
This is an amazing journey - you see these children learn so much and do so much good for other people. You see Survivors themselves come to talk to the kids and share their stories. This is when even the teachers get to see that this isn't just a story but a real life event that should never be forgotten. You hear the assistant principal talk about how he hopes his own children don't make racial slurs like his father did. It's very emotional to see.
A rail car has been used to store the clips in. It's an authentic German rail car. They got it to America and that's where the clips are. All the kids from previous years etc helped put the clips in the car. The car remains a symbol at Whitwell where it will stay.
You have to see this documentary. I can't stress enough how good this is and how moving and educational to many people. It's a must see and I highly highly recommend it to everyone.
Movie Review: Modern Day Students Visualize and Personalize the Holocaust
Summary: 5 Stars
One person can change the world! This statement rings true in this arresting and moving documentary by Elliot Berlin and Joe Fab. If you are a high school principal, teacher, administrator, student, or even professor, this film is a MUST SEE. It chronicles the efforts of Whitwell middle school(a tiny school in the middle of a tiny town in rural Appalachian Tennessee) and an Assistant Principal and Teacher who brought the idea of collecting 6 million paper clips to their school Principal as a class project. The Paper Clips would represent each of the 6 million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust. The Principal accepts the idea, and the teachers slowly begin to educate their students in regard to the Holocaust. Word slowly begins to spread from this little town in Tennessee and soon people all over the world are sending paperclips to this small school, including celebrities like Tom Hanks, Tom Bosley, Bill Cosby, and others.
Over the course of four years, awareness of the destructiveness of the Holocaust and its effect on the world begins to take root in the teachers, the students, the Principals, and the whole community of mostly white Protestant Americans in this film. By the end of this movie, the reality of the devastation that prejudice and hatred can cause is grasped not only by the students and teachers of Whitwell Middle School, but by the viewers of the movie as well. Added to the documentary are visits to the school by Holocaust survivors who share their stories with the students, teachers, and people from the community. All are moved to tears. Peter Schroeder and his wife, Dagmar Schroeder-Hildebrand, and a journalist for the Washington Post partner with Whitwell Middle school to spread their Paper Clip Holocaust awareness project to the world. NBC news picks up the story and the paperclips start pouring in, each with a story of survival or loss attached to it. Most moving is when Peter and Dagmar search all over Germany for an actual rail car that transported the Jews to the death camps. Successful, they ship the rail car all the way to Tennessee to Whitwell High School and a memorial is built in memory of the Jews and others who died in Nazi Germany. "As I stepped in the car I could feel the souls crying out," are the words of the Principal as she steps into the haunting rail car. I too had the same feeling from my couch as the camera panned through the rail car. The little school had received over 24 million paperclips, and I was moved to tears as they poured the paperclips into the rail car memorial. I envisioned each paper clip representing an actual person whose life had been cut short by hatred, prejudice, jealousy and greed. Imagine the population of whole cities or states totaling 6 million people were all wiped away in a matter of 5 or 6 years. Imagine the devastation to the families and friends of these people. This film is a powerful tool that can be used to teach future generations of children, students, teachers, and humanity of the importance of treating others the way you want to be treated.
Movie Review: "Changing the world one clip at a time."
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1998, the students at Whitwell Middle School in rural Tennessee embarked on a project under the direction of their principal, Linda Hooper, assistant principal and history teacher, David Smith, and language arts teacher, Sandra Roberts. The goal was to demonstrate to these almost uniformly white and Christian children the tragic consequences of hatred and intolerance. When a student heard that the Nazis murdered six million Jews during World War II, he said that such a large number is incomprehensible. So the children did some research, found out that a Norwegian invented the paper clip, and that Norwegians wore paper clips on their lapels as a symbol of resistance to the Nazis during World War II. The kids started writing letters asking for donations of paper clips, hoping to collect eleven million clips, one for each victim of the Nazi regime. What started as a local project became international in scope. The students received letters from all over the world expressing support for the project. Holocaust survivors and their children, as well as a former solider who helped liberate a concentration camp, also sent letters with heart-rending anecdotes. This documentary film is a moving chronicle of the paper clip project.
Directed by Elliot Berlin and Joe Fab and written by Joe Fab, "Paper Clips" is a poignant tribute to the educators at Whitwell and to the children who enthusiastically immersed themselves in the history of the Holocaust. The film includes footage not only of the teachers and their students, but also of the former concentrate camp inmates who recount painful memories of their experiences. Two other key figures in the film are Peter Schroeder and his wife, Dagmar Schroeder-Hildebrand, journalists who visited Whitwell. The couple was impressed not only with the project, but also with the warmth of the residents of this small Tennessee town. Peter and Dagmar, who o did a great deal to publicize the project, speak on camera along with the principal, teachers, and students of Whitwell. The residents of the community explain how the paper clip project transformed them. Practically everyone in Whitwell became involved in one way or another before the project finally reached fruition.
On November 9, 2001, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, a memorial railcar that had been used in Nazi Germany to transport Jews to their deaths was dedicated in Whitwell. It is filled with eleven million paper clips and serves as a learning center for visiting students. "Paper Clips" is a simple film that exudes warmth and compassion. I recommend this documentary for children from the ages of ten or eleven through high school. It would be useful in raising awareness of the Holocaust and in imparting the idea that every one of us has the power to bring about positive change in the world.
Movie Review: What wonderful PEOPLE
Summary: 5 Stars
I hesitate to say this is a wonderful MOVIE, because it would suggest that the filmmakers are somehow responsible for the film's content. Granted, it's a documentary, and things like fancy camerawork, beautiful location shots, and dramatic panning shots might add to a documentary such as MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, but PAPER CLIPS is different.
The documentarians are there simply to serve as the vessel to get the story out. Nothing more, nothing less. And I give them credit for simply doing that. Because it is the teachers and children in Whitwell, Tennessee that fully deserve to have their story told.
A tiny, little town of some 1600 people about 40 miles northeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Whitwell is NOT the place I would have expected to hear about a multi-year middle school project that focused on the Holocaust. Perhaps this is because of my OWN "Northeast bias," but I give these folks a LOT of credit. As they mentioned in the movie, there is not one Jewish person who lives in this town... how unselfish of them to instill in their youngest citizens an awareness of the horrors of racism taken to its most extreme degree.
What starts out as a discussion about the holocaust, leads them to a project of symbolism. When told of Hitler's extermination of six million Jews, one of the students remarks that they can't really comprehend what the number "six million" represents.
So they set out to find something that thay can collect six million of in order to give deeper meaning to the enormity of the Holocaust. They settle on paper clips, and after a few months, they realize that it's likely going to take them the better part of a decade to reach their goal.
But then word gets out about the project. And when Tom Brokaw announces what's going on in little Whitwell, Tennessee on the NBC Nightly News, the WORLD finds out about it... and not only do literally TONS of paperclips start pouring into the little burg, but they also start getting visits from Holocaust survivors.
The scenes where the men and women who made it out of the concentration camps come to the school to tell the stories of their loved ones who did not, is to say the least, extraordinarily moving.
In the end, the people of Whitwell placed an incredible memorial at the Middle School. I won't give away what it is, but suffice to say, it is NOT simply a colossal pile of paper clips. In fact, if I ever find myself traveling in that part of the country, I would feel compelled to visit. And to tell the people of Whitwell how wonderful they are.
That's saying a lot, given the fact that it started out as a simple middle school study project.
- Jonathan Sabin
Movie Review: An extraordinary documentary about loss, hope, and a desire to LEARN
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this movie last December.
I usually purchase movies only after viewing them. However, I was fascinated by this story, and purchased the movie without prior viewing.
The documentary is an interesting look not only at the Holocaust, but at relationships between people, and the desire to understand events of history.
In an effort to further diversity education at their school - teachers and administrators at a Tennessee school, along with students, developedh a project to collect 6 million paperclips to represent individuals destroyed by the Holocaust.
The individuals in the film - students, teachers, the journalists who assisted the project - are all absolutely genuine. They are not afraid to show their own judgements and prejudices, and also express why they have felt this way. The innocent perspectives of the students is endearing, and genuinely inspiring.
Yes, this is a deeply emotional film. It is heartbreaking, and amazing. The holocaust surivors who came and shared their stories, shared their tattoo'd numbers...broke your heart and warmed your spirit. But in the same respect the desire of these students and educators to learn and UNDERSTAND - their desire to really GRASP JUST HOW MANY 6 MILLION PEOPLE would look like...is phenomenal. This is a brilliant documentary.
I was also fascinated by the symbolic choice of a paperclip...
I am very glad I purchased this film, it is an amazing story, enlightening. And it gives you a sense of what people can accomplish. Gathering paperclips seemed overwhelming in the beginning, but what the students do, with the help of journalists, family, etc. is phenomenal. I truly get tingles and goosebumps thinking about this film. And was breathless when the journey of the Train car from germany intersected modern history on September 11.
There is much to learned from history.
When one sets out on just such a journey, I believe often, the resources come to us. And I think this story displays how seeking out to accomplish the goal of education brought many people together, and created an example of just what the world lost during the Holocaust.
Each paperclip represented one life, a life with lost potential. Each paperclip was treated with such an endearing respect; handled by someone who thought about the person who might have been...
I believe we should all see this film.