Finally, a movie that demands your attention

Students don’t seem to have a grasp of what happened to us on 9/11

By Ken Tingley

I’ve always loved movies.

Going to the movie theater was the highlight of any week, but I find I have been going less and less. Sadly, I don’t find many movies interesting anymore. The stories all sound familiar and I refuse to watch another movie about super heroes.

For the second year in a row, I volunteered to be a screener for the Adirondack Film Festival. It is a big commitment, but I love experiencing the variety of movies you don’t get at the multiplex.

I love the documentaries and the shorts.

So over the past two months, I’ve been getting up early and watching one to three movies a day - usually one full length feature film and a couple of shorts. Eighty-nine movies were entered in the film festival.

What you have to realize about film festival entries is these movies are produced by fledgling artists on a shoestring budget with few - if any - known actors and actresses. And while there are a good share of clunkers, I am happy to report the state of cinema is in good hands. I recommended six or seven feature films to be shown at the festival. That’s probably too many, but that means there will be some great entertainment at next month’s film Festival in downtown Glens Falls (Oct. 13-15).

Going into last week I had viewed 87 of the 89 entries when another screener suggested a movie about indigenous boarding schools in Canada may have been overlooked.

On Saturday morning I watched the movie “Bones of Crows” and was blown away. It was the best movie entered in this year’s film festival. It is probably better than any of the best picture nominees I saw last year. That might seem ridiculous, but it also might tell you something about how best picture nominees are chosen these days.

I’m still learning about the indigenous boarding schools, but essentially, the children of indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada were taken from their parents and placed in boarding schools run by religious orders so they would assimilate into a white way of life.

This is the “Spotlight” for indigenous peoples.

It is a difficult movie to watch at times, but necessary.

It will make you angry. You might shed a few tears.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Interior released a 100-page report on the federal indigenous boarding schools in the United States. The schools were used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but most of us are just learning about them now.

Between 1819 and 1969 the U.S. ran or supported 408 boarding schools. The report concluded that students endured “rampant physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.” The report found evidence of more than 500 deaths of native children. And the investigation is still continuing.

The movie is an epic journey of one woman taken away from her mother and father - along with three siblings - and the affect it had on their lives.

I expect it to make the cut at this year’s film festival.

I hope you make it a point to go and see it.

Students and 9/11

As I mentioned in Monday’s column, I spoke to a group of journalism students on Monday and asked them about 9/11.

I really wanted to know their perspective because none of them had been born in 2001.

I suspected it might be like my relationship with December 7 and Pearl Harbor. I was born 16 years after the attack that started World War II. I could view the event as a historical event without emotion.

I tried to get a conversation going with the students without much luck.

I told them how we all came together in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. We were behind our president and we all flew the American flag in a show of patriotism.

“Can you imagine all of us together as a nation?” I asked.

Several shook their heads.

Others seemed ambivalent.

I sensed it didn’t seem possible to them.

Maybe the events themselves did not seem possible.

Paper arrives

Our newspaper delivery disappeared for three weeks recently. We got by reading the digital e-edition.

I finally reached out to a person in circulation and the newspaper reappeared this weekend.

My wife told me it was a good thing, because we were going to have to start the wood stove soon.

It’s one advantage print has over every other medium.

Banquet canceled

The New York State News Publishers were planning on honoring the award winners in their annual contest later this month. I had been asked to be the master of ceremonies. The publishers luncheon was always one of the highlights of the year and a chance to visit with colleagues from around the state.

Unfortunately, I learned this week that the awards luncheon had been canceled for lack of interest.

I suspect there are just fewer and fewer journalists out there and it is more and more difficult for them to get away from work - even on a weekend.

No bathrooms

The drive up the Northway through the Adirondacks is always special. It is one of the most beautiful stretches of highways in the country.

When my cousins from Ireland visited years ago they couldn’t get over the sheer number of trees.

What the Northway lacks now is not trees, but rest stops.

I found only one open on my drive south this week. About halfway through my drive home, I realized I would not make it without stopping. I made it as far as Warrensburg, where I exited and pulled into the local McDonalds.

When a man’s got to go, he’s got to go. I think my father used to say that.

I walked briskly toward the door at the McDonald’s and it was locked.

I went to a second door. Locked.

A third door. Locked.

But there were people inside eating.

I saw a man unloading supplies at the back door and asked if they were open. He said it must be “drive through only.” Unfortunately, that does not help when you need a rest room.

I suspect this fast food staple was another business struggling to hire workers.

New book

For all my faithful readers out there, I hope you will help me spread the word about my second volume of columns coming out next month.

There are 90 more columns chronicling the people and events that have made Glens Falls and its surrounding communities such a great place to live.

You can preorder below.