Our listings are provided by our friends over at nextfilm.co.uk.

Paper Clips (2004)

0 Votes: 0

Director

Starring

Last On

01:50-03:15 Sun 5th Feb 2012 85m
BBC2

Synopsis

Tolerance and diversity are celebrated in this unsophisticated yet well-intentioned documentary. Exploring the way a 1999 American school project to commemorate the Holocaust resulted in a lasting monument to the victims of Hitler's Final Solution, it's a fascinating story if clumsily told. In over-stretched detail, co-directors Elliot Berlin and Joe Fab catalogue how pupils at Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee attempted to visualise the enormity of the Nazis' crimes by collecting one paper clip (a symbol of Second World War Norwegian resistance) for every Jew murdered. With media support, the youngsters far exceeded their aims, even receiving an authentic death camp cattle truck to house a permanent memorial. But while their achievement is remarkable, its on-screen impact is diluted by unsubtle editing and an unfortunate air of self-congratulation. It's only when Holocaust survivors speak that the film has genuine emotional power, poignantly driving home the important central messages.