I took some time off to watch this movie made in 2003. I seldom watch English movies but this one I picked because of Julia Roberts. I have watched some of her movies and I like watching them over and over again. I had hardly heard about this movie and the tagline "In a world that told them how to think, she showed them how to live" did offer some encouragement. Julia Roberts plays the Art History teacher Katherine Watson who thinks a bit differently and more advanced with respect to her times.
The movie is set in the times of early 1950s and is captivating. Especially for girls I guess it is a bit liberating. I liked the way the message is brought to fore. The conservative society of the Wellesley college encourages girls to get married even before they graduate. A married girl in class gets special treatment by the teachers and students alike. So even if the girls are intelligent and interested in Law and other subjects, but due to the orthodox environment they are forced to focus more on finding a life partner for themselves and less on finding a career for themselves.The teahcer Katherine Watson encourages girls to choose both--- a career and marriage for themselves. She is not against a particular set of traditions but she wants the girls to consider other options too.
In one particular high pitched emotional scene Katherine Watson shows the class a few slides of advertisements of their times and calls it contemporary art. The advertisements are all of women and their household appliances. She asks the class a question whether they would be liked to be studied by the future scholars of art like this or would they like to bring some change.
I was thinking that it is actually a very good way of putting a continuous check on ourselves....as individuals and as a society. The future generation will judge us on the basis of marks, remnants and fossils we leave behind us. Also, I believe that change cannot come overnight and it should not come overnight. The change that comes gradually is there to stay. Many a times after several attempts we feel that a particular effort is wasted just because we cannot see the results. Probably the change is happening after all. Putting in efforts for change are like trying to break a rock with a hammer. A single blow might not break it or even a 100. But the rock does break in the 1st blow after a 100. This means the first 100 blows did put a dent after all. So, when even we try to bring a change around us in terms of attitude or trends, it might take us a 100 blows before we succeed!
A must watch movie.
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