BOND I TEACH

FURTHER to my September 5 notes about Film Education, this is the week when many children will miss school lessons in favour of being able to watch a movie instead.

Good for them.

It's really important to realise there's a world outside of the classroom as it's the place where all of the skills they learn at school will one day become relevant.

And, in any case, there is nothing quite like seeing a film where it should be seen on the big screen.

As well as hopefully being entertaining and/or thought-provoking, every film is educational, too, both in terms of our understanding of the world and human behaviour within it.

As usual, I'll be hosting a Masterclass for the children attending one of this week's screenings in Birmingham.

It just so happens that this year it will be tomorrow. And, since it will be a two-hour German film about a Turkish story that I was not familiar with before, this means I'll be learning just as much as the children.

Luckily I've sourced a DVD and I'm about to watch it tonight in advance as part of my preparation.

It will be the first foreign film I've discussed in this context (and more's the pity it's not this year's Oscar contender The Diving Bell and The Butterfly which I think every teenager should see).

But, because tomorrow's film has also been given an English title, I wonder if the children themselves will be expecting anything other than a bog-standard Hollywood film.

I rather hope so, because it's important to see things without prejudice or preconception.

Which is why I always try to review films based on my reaction to seeing the film, the whole film and nothing but the film.

If it all falls flat tomorrow because the children don't appreciate seeing a German film, I can always fall back on what it was like to have been at the world's first screening of the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace on Friday night (see my previous notes about my reaction to that).

That is sure to grab their attention.