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• Saturday, July 12, 2008 07:10 AM

  It all depends on how you are raising your kids

  I raised mine to be literate and literary. The end result was that while we liked a great many silly films and light hearted stuff, we actually found that -- when the kids were a tad older -- "R" rated films were so much more . . . let me repeat, so much more . . . acceptable than PG-13 films.

  However, let me first list some favorites of my family that did not make Andrew's list. Then I will explain the above statement.

  The Man Who Would Be King based on the story of the same name by English jingoist Rudyard Kipling, made into a magnificent film by John Huston (who tried to film it for 30 plus years) with the perfect cast of Michael Caine and Sean Connery. Huston, Caine and Connery became great friends while making this film and the fun Caine and Connery (a man who loves to dress up) shows. A wonderful piece of adventure, acting and history, both real and imagined, in this great, great movie.

  Antonia's Line, a feminist fantasy by Dutch filmaker Marleen Gorris, which is fine for slightly older tweens or kids whose parents raised them to be literate. At the end of war torn Europe, a woman and her daughter found a family. We liked it so much we paid twice to see the art house screening . . . and we were poor! Nudity and lesbianism are represented but this movie says more about family and give and take then most saccharine Hollywood movies.

  Au Revoir, Les Enfants by Louis Malle. Again, for slightly older, more literate kids. While there are many idyllic scenes of mid-20th C French childhood, this is a Holocaust film and my kids cried (BTW, I taught my kids the Holocaust through film). The priest at the center of this film will teach your kids about heroism and nobility. Not to be missed.

  Three Amigos. I said we liked silly films. Starring Chevy Chase, Martin Short and Steve Martin, this movie is about three silent film stars who believe the myth that they are heroes and so they become heroes. Watch for the husband of Mexican writer Laura Esquivel (Like Water for Chocolate) in the cast. Funny, harmless, but, perhaps, with the message that you should believe in yourself, this is good movie for kids 8 and up.

  ----

  Back to R rated movies. In the 60s, when foreign (therefore, suspect) films were making their mark, a Catholic priest, hitting against the Legion of Decency, commented that there were "Christ figures" to be found in films like Darling and Alfie. Christ figures were thematically big among Catholic intellectuals then. And theme is the key.

  Many (not all) R rated movies have sophisticated themes. All too many PG-13 movies are more "objectionable in part (to borrow the language of the Legion of Decency)," than R movies.

  Frankly, by dumbing down your movie choices for kids, you end up raising dumb adults who are poor citizens.

  —SWozniak Read SWozniak's other letters
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