# Movies where someone helps a community (PG) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514 "2007-10-04T17:20:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/41 "2007-10-04T20:36:33Z")
Apparently those salesladies aren’t on video yet, guess they’d have to catch that one on TV. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/42 "2007-10-04T20:40:37Z")
How about that one where the spirits of the male citizens of Dallas are lifted by the tenderness and charms of a feisty newcomer, name of Debbie? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/43 "2007-10-04T20:43:06Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] How about that one where the spirits of the male citizens of Dallas are lifted by the tenderness and charms of a feisty newcomer, name of Debbie? [/QUOTE] Wait…those were their _spirits_? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/44 "2007-10-04T22:32:26Z")
Time Bandits A young boy helps the community of international criminals and along the way meets Agamemnon, Napoleon, Robin Hood and God, among others. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/45 "2007-10-04T22:46:06Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] [The 10th Kingdom](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207275/): an ordinary handyman (John Larroquette) and his daughter (Kimberly Williams) get caught up in political intrigue in a land where fairytales are reality. [/QUOTE] Just as a warning, this is a mini-series and is about ten hours long. You _could_ watch it in one night, but I wouldn’t recommend it. My recommendation: [Newsies](http://imdb.com/title/tt0104990/). Kids who sell newspapers in New York City at the turn of the century go against William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pullitzer in the name of ethical business practices. Based on a true story. And it’s a musical! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/46 "2007-10-04T23:16:12Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Purl McKnittington] My recommendation: [Newsies](http://imdb.com/title/tt0104990/). Kids who sell newspapers in New York City at the turn of the century go against William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pullitzer in the name of ethical business practices. Based on a true story. And it’s a musical! [/QUOTE] With an 18-year-old Christian Bale… ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/47 "2007-10-04T23:20:38Z")
Yes, there’s something for every member of the family in “Newsies”. I certainly don’t watch it for the community building aspect. ---
**Author:** ![nipplesup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85f322/32.png) [@nipplesup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nipplesup)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/48 "2007-10-04T23:39:14Z")
[EMAIL=[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463998/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463998/)]Freedom Writers This movie is a real GEM ! from wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Freedom Writers, directed by Richard LaGravenese, is inspired by a true story and the diaries of real Long Beach, California teenagers after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, during the worst outbreak of interracial gang warfare. Set in and around Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California during the mid 1990s, two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank stars as English teacher Erin Gruwell. > After a few days of class, Gruwell and her students get into a debate about racism during which she compares a caricature of a black student with big lips, drawn by another student, to the Nazis’ caricatures of Jews with big noses. She then takes her students on a field trip to the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance to teach them about the Holocaust. An exterior view of the museum is shown, and there are scenes inside the museum, showing simulated entrances to gas chambers in Nazi death camps. > One of the books the students read is The Diary of Anne Frank, and money is raised to have Miep Gies come over to talk about the Holocaust. The roles of four Holocaust survivors, some of whom survived Auschwitz, who met with the students in a dinner hosted by Gruwell, are played by the actual Holocaust survivors themselves. > Since the school is both incapable and unwilling to pay for books and excursions, Gruwell pays a lot of the expenses herself, financed by two extra, part-time, jobs (a sales associate at a department store and a concierge at a Marriott hotel). Because of the little time she spends with her husband, he eventually divorces her. > Over the course of the movie, Gruwell finds more ways to teach her students about racism and respect. As Gruwell begins to listen to them in a way no adult or teacher has ever done, she begins to understand that these kids believe that surviving is enough — that they are not delinquents but teenagers fighting “a war of the streets” that began long before they were born. For the first time, the teens experience hope that they can show the world that their lives matter and that they have something to say. > Ms. G, as her students come to call Gruwell, hands out journals to her students so they can write about the past, present, future, good days and bad ones. Happily, she watches each student come to her desk and take one. Later on she sits down to read and is amazed at their stories and hardships. These students become freedom writers. Ms. G arranges for her students to type up their stories into a book they title, “The Freedom Writers Diary,” and according to the end credits, this book was published in 1999. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/49 "2007-10-05T01:01:12Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Purl McKnittington] Just as a warning, [10th Kingdom] is a mini-series and is about ten hours long. [/QUOTE] Just shy of 7 hours, according to the DVD box. I really need to watch this again one of these days… ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/50 "2007-10-05T01:15:30Z")
The Englishman who went up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain. PG. But has the whole community bonding together thing. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/51 "2007-10-05T01:26:58Z")
[Big Fish](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319061/)? It isn’t explicitly explicitly about helping a community, but a rather large element of it has Ed Bloom helping a town called spectre. Plus it’s a pretty enjoyable movie so it’s win win. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/52 "2007-10-05T03:22:30Z")
[Hoosiers](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0091217/) About more than basketball. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/53 "2007-10-05T03:48:10Z")
Also, [Mr. Holland’s Opus](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0113862/). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/54 "2007-10-05T04:15:19Z")
Does **We Are Marshall** fit? I haven’t seen it, but I know the basic plot. Maybe someone else can speculate… ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/55 "2007-10-05T04:40:32Z")
_Whale Rider?_ By working together to save stranded whales, the community rediscovers its pride. Also has the theme of a kid who fights prejudice to become a leader. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/56 "2007-10-05T07:29:39Z")
Is _It’s a Wonderful Life_ too obvious? How about _Mr. Holland’s Opus_ and _Gandhi_? ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/57 "2007-10-05T07:42:41Z")
If you were looking at High Plains Drifter, I’d second the suggestion of Shane. How about “[To Sir, With Love](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062376/)”? ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/58 "2007-10-05T16:16:56Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] The Englishman who went up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain. PG. But has the whole community bonding together thing. [/QUOTE] I am considering this one (with a note to the parents regarding the sexual innuendo - doesn’t the town distract him at a key moment with the woman?) ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/59 "2007-10-05T16:18:04Z")
[QUOTE=maggenpye] _Whale Rider?_ By working together to save stranded whales, the community rediscovers its pride. Also has the theme of a kid who fights prejudice to become a leader. [/QUOTE] Cool! I have not seen this one, I admit. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514/60 "2007-10-05T17:08:03Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] No, the community is pretty much in the wrong on that one. [/QUOTE] He’s helping his community by acting as the lone voice of justice within it - and is, in fact, recognized as such. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-someone-helps-a-community-pg/421514.md?page=4)