Paper Clips

This well-meaning documentary isn't a slick, celebrity-narrated account of the Whitwell students' simple but life-changing Holocaust studies project. In fact, the biggest celebrity is Happy Days dad Tom Bosley, who, as a Jewish grandfather, sent in one paper clip to the class. Instead, the documentary earnestly focuses on the principal Linda Hooper, assistant principal David Smith, and language-arts teacher Sandra Roberts, and the students and journalists who helped spread the word that a group of white Southern kids were doing their best to honor the six million Jewish people killed by Hitler's racist regime. Throughout the collection process, the students, who didn't even know any Jews personally when they began the project, become attuned to the stories behind the paper clips and understand that unchecked intolerance and prejudice can lead to genocide.

Smith, in particular, admits that he was raised with racist attitudes and never thought twice about making certain racial remarks -- even in front of his black college roommate. He cries, saying that he never wants his sons to describe him as a racist, and that alone makes the documentary worth watching. The incredible paper clip project isn't just a memorial, it's a living reminder of what can happen if we don't learn that other kinds of people aren't the enemy. By the time the school receives an actual German rail-car -- that once transported condemned Jews to death camps -- to house the paper clips, the entire town of Whitwell has learned not only a general history of the Holocaust, but has met and cried with survivors. For anyone looking for a way to introduce the topic of the Holocaust with young students, this documentary is a perfect place to start.