West European Studies

Thirteen Days.  This is a movie based on the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.  It centers on the three key actors of this crisis  President John F. Kennedy (played by Bruce Greenwood), his brother Robert (played by Stephen Culp) and his political advisor Ken ODonnell (played by Kevin Costner).  They explored every possible option in addressing the crisis and the challenge was how to defuse it without going to war.  This film can be a valuable tool in a classroom in enlightening the students on the Cold War and teachers can use this to challenge students on other possible scenarios if they were in Kennedys shoes by looking at the historicalcultural contexts (The Film Foundation, 2009).

Cry Freedom. This is the story based on the account of Donald Woods (played by Kevin Kline) on the apartheid situation in South Africa through his friendship with activist Steven Biko (played by Denzel Washington who was arrested and died under police custody.  Even though Apartheid was long gone, the film could still provide a valuable lesson in educating the youth on the cruelty of man to another and how apartheid was used as an instrument of repression.  This can also be a lesson in historicalcultural contexts as well as cross-curricular connections (The Film Foundation, 2009).

Hotel Rwanda. This is the story of the ethnic conflict in Rwanda in 1994 which was characterized by the massacre of Tutsi people by the rival Hutus as seen through the eyes of a hotel manager named Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) who tried to save as many lives as he could in the face of the cruelty of the Hutus and the apparent apathy or indifference of the outside world.  This is also a lesson that be used as one looks into the historicalcultural context as well as the cross-curricular connections as well (The Film Foundation, 2009).