Time to round up some of the things I have – and haven’t – been watching.

• Quite a while ago I finished the French documentary To Be and to Have (Etre et avoir). The description on Netflix said it was dealing with a school that was bucking the trends. As a teacher, I was intrigued. I wasn’t quite sure, however, that this is what the film really said to me. It was touching to see this one room school house in rural France where a single teacher worked with students of varying ages, but did it reinvent what education should be? No. If you read the Wiki article it also brings up some other issues about documentaries and makes me wonder if – and how much – the participants were compensated for their stories. How much is your story worth?
• Speaking of foreign productions I also watched the Vietnamese film Owl and the Sparrow which almost had a documentary feel to it. I almost gave up on it about half way through because it is a very quiet movie. The main actor, the small girl, kept me engaged though. You just feel for her. You hardly even need the subtitles in this one.
• I tried to watch a Bollywood movie but I’m not a big fan of musicals so I didn’t make it very far into it before I said – eh – not for me.
• And finally I watched about 6 episodes of a Canadian show called Lost Girl. This Canadian show has just made its way to SyFy after having a good 1st and 2nd season on what I assume is the Canadian equivalent of Showtime (not cause there are – like shows like “Weeds” quite a few sex scenes). I really wanted to like this show because it is such a unique concept, but I don’t think the characters engaged me (well except Dyson – whew – just looking at Dyson is a treat) enough to keep me watching. I think other Sci-fi/fantasy type shows keep me coming back strictly for character. I hung onto the new :Battlestar Galactica” even when they had a few weak storylines and I’m doing the same with “Supernatural” (up to season 4 now!). If you are really into Sci-fi/fantasy and/or mythology in this case “Lost Girl” might be one you want to check out.

Well that’s it for this current round up. I’m thinking of making my night class (if my schedule stays the same and things are constantly in flux at school!) themed around film since we have a long class period. The class itself is Comp 2 – Argument Based Research – and I already use a lot of video in that. I think it’d be great to bring a foreign film into the mix. Maybe to even take one like “Let the Right One In” where there are American and Foreign versions to do a compare/contrast . . . hmm

What stories are you watching?