Movies

Jillayne endulges herself.

Movies I mention in class!  Put these in your Netflix que or look for them at Blockbuster when the new release section leaves you wanting a good story.  Sometimes a film falls into more than one topic category.

Land Titles
Far and Away
This is a great popcorn movie staring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and is loosely based on the life of the grandparents of Ron Howard.  “Land, I tell you, they’re giving it away!”  Yes the U.S. did give land away and toward the end of the film, there’s a great scene showing the Oklahoma Land Races.  Great film to watch with kids who might be studying this time period of immigration and the development of the West.

There Will Be Blood
One of my title insurance students from Bellevue College wrote her final paper on all the possible title insurance problems that take place all throughout this movie.  Extremely well acted.

Fair Housing
Red Dragon
During the 20 Hr SAFE Pre-licensing Comprehensive course, we talk about a Fair Housing case study called NAACP v. Novastar. In that case study, we talk about row houses in the city of Baltimore.  Toward the end of this movie, we visit Emily Watson’s character at her Baltimore row house and you get a few good scenes of what the row houses are like. This movie is the prequel to Silence of the Lambs, though it was made a few years after the success of SOTL.

Philadelphia
Not only is this well acted by a much younger Tom Hanks, Antonio Banderas and Denzel Washington, this film helps us understand discrimination because of sexual orientation. HUD is considering adding sexual orientation as one of the protected classes to Fair Housing and says no FHA lender shall discriminate based on sexual orientation if state law prohibits it.

An Education
A fine film. Great one to watch with your daughters to teach them how to spot an asshole. Another reason to watch this film is because one of the characters is involved with “blockbusting.” 

Raisin in the Sun
A black family tries to move to an all white neighborhood.

Foreclosures
Ethics (Consequentialism)
House of Sand and Fog
This movie is required watching for ANYONE considering buying a home at a trustee sale (or tax sale) auction.  Stars Ben Kingsley, Jennifer Connelly and the beautiful Shohreh Aghdashloo. This movie helps us understand that it is very difficult to try and think of all the possible consequences for the choices we make in our lives. 

Another movie about consequentialism is Gone Baby Gone which has an absolutely chilling ending that stayed with me for days. The lead character is absolutely sure he’s doing the right thing, with the knowledge he had at the time he had to make the decision…or did he have that knowledge and make a conscious choice to ignore what he knew?

Ethics
More than a few of the characters in Avatar face ethical dilemmas.  All involve duty. The characters undergo an inner transformation during the movie and as they change, they have to make some decisions on how they are going to rank their duties. 

There’s a new movie coming out called “Agora” about the female philsopher Hypatia. I can’t wait to see this with my daughters. 

Lord of the Flies is an easy weekend read or you can rent any of the movie versions. This is a great book to read with your kid who might be in honors English 8th/9th grade because there’s so much foreshadowing, symbolism, and projection going on.  The story contemplates what happens when there are no rules, or at least, no regulators around to make sure the rules are followed.

Leaves of Grass
This played at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2010. Edward Norton’s character gives a fine speech at the beginning of the movie and asks us if finding ethical balance is illusory.

Inglourious Basterds
In the opening scene, a man is forced to make a choice between protecting his family and protecting his Jewish friends during World War II.

Primal Fear
When we help our clients, how can we know….how can we be one hundred percent sure that our client is capable of understanding us, and understanding the consequences of their actions?

Hotel Rwanda
How far would you go to do the right thing? Would you put your family and  yourself in danger? I found this movie incredibly uplifting for showing how far one person went.

Cell 211
One of my favorites from the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival, this movie won Spain’s version of the Oscar for best picture.  This move asks us, is it ever okay to lie and under what circumstances?  This movie has subtitles but PLEASE don’t let that disuade you from renting it when it is released on DVD.  This movie had me gripping my seat from start to finish. I promise you will love it.

How Laws are Made

Charlie Wilson’s War is a great movie.  You’ll understand why the terrorists are now in Afghanistan and you’ll also see how Quid Pro Quo works in Washington D.C.  (You vote for my bill, and I’ll vote for your bill.) Charlie Wilson saves up all kinds of favors and then cashes them in all at once. If you rent this one, you also need to rent The Kite Runner on the same weekend because the two go hand in hand. 

Movies with Real Estate Agent charaters

There’s nothing that can top American Beauty. ”I will sell this house today. I will sell this house today.”

I still haven’t seen Glengarry Glen Ross but everyone tells me I’d love it.

My personal favorite genre is the psychological drama or thriller.

Every now and then, the topic of the average, garden variety sociopath comes up in our ethics classes.  One of my favorite movies is American Psycho. Is the main character merely sociopathic or has he broken his grasp on reality and has become a psychopathic? Warning: this movie is terribly violent. Only rent this if you can take it.  You’ll see a very young Christian Bale and other great actors as well. 

Another good sociopath movie is Primal Fear, but it masquerades as a courtroom drama. See above.

At the Seattle International Film Festival in 2009, I saw Downloading Nancy, a film that shows us one why one person developed obsessive compulsive disorder.  This is on the new release wall now, or if you can’t find it, it might be in the film festival section.

Anyone with a family member or friend with Asperger’s Syndrome should consider renting Ben X. This movie is from Belgium and has subtitles.