Romulus, My Father

This film deals with Raimond Gaita’s early life with his father and mother and their emotional problems. Raimond is sensitive and resililient as he comes to terms with mother’s emotional instability and his father’s breakdown.

The film is based on Gaita’s memoir of the same name. He is a noted Australian philosopher. It is harrowing but ultimately uplifting. For emotionally strong Year 12 students.

Good or physical and inner journeys. The bond between Romulus and Rai is not dissimilar from Peter Skryznecki and Felix in that it is very strong and both write about it. Also the migrant experience.

A journey: “The Italian”

The Italian is a Russian movie about a 6 year old orphan who goes in search of his birth mother rather than be adopted by an Italian family. The living circumstances are harsh and the boy, Vanya, is resiliant. Good for physical and inner journeys.

Related material for imaginative journeys?

The Sydney Writers’ Festival will provide a source of interviews by noted writers that may provide you with suitable material. The recent film, Stanger than Fiction, provides a lot to discuss as do the films of Charlie Kaufman, such as Being John Malkovich.

Looking for Area of Study related material?

In Saturday’s Good Weekend magazine there was an article, “Back from the Brink”, on Lincoln Hall who nearly died climbing Mount Everest. This would be good for Physical Journeys and Inner Journeys.

On Friday night’s Stateline, there was a segment on boys who walked the Kokoda Track this year. One boy had been involved in the Cronulla Riots in 2005. The boys talk about the physical journey and what it has meant to them – physical and inner journeys. Remember, a transcript is a text type. You can dowload the transcript from http://www.abc.net.au. If you want the link email me at HSCsupport@gmail.com.

There’s also a new book out on Sophie Delizio, the burns victim. Inner Journey for everyone involved.

And a good read is From Baghdad with Love by Jay Kopelman. It’s about a US soldier in Iraq and efforts he and others went to in saving the dog who gave them a lot of pleasure in obviously difficult times. You get the hardship of war and the soft stuff of having a pet. It’s also Physical and Inner journeys.