Chabot College/2012
Films commonly taught
Unconstitutional, regards USA PATRIOT Act, arrests and lack of due process, especially for
Arab Americans and Muslims post 9/11.
*Used in English 102 or 1A with Zeitoun
Zappa
Trouble the Water, filmed by residents of New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina.
African American wife and husband team chronicle their experience, from immediately before
the storm to the days and weeks following, including the long wait for FEMA processing.
*Used in English 102 or 1A with Zeitoun
Zappa
The People Speak, readings by actors of excerpts from Howard Zinn‟s A People’s History of the
US.Zinn himself MCs this passionate collection of some little-known folks from history, and
narrates the video footage. Focus is on racism, imperialism and war-mongering, women‟s rights,
labor rights, homophobia, and socio-economic justice.
*Used in English 1A along with research paper focusing on historical figure and related,
persistent problems/ areas of work.
Zappa
El Norte, is a heartbreaking film about a Central American brother and sister who flee their
village after both parents are killed by insurgents. Their journey across the border is arduous and
ugly. It does not get much better once here in the States.
*Segedy
Sin Nombre. Fictional film dealing with immigrants from Central America and Mexico jumping
the trains to come North and facing terrorism by gangs and enforcement agencies.
*Used in 102 with Enrique’s Journey. Goes great with this text or anything to do with
immigration or the economic conditions producing the international rise of gangs.
Segedy/ McLean
Sex, Drugs, and Democracy, a film about civil liberties in the Netherlands.
*used in English 101A along with the chapter in The Geography of Bliss about the
Netherlands.
Langdon
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Chabot College/2012
Sicko, Michael Moore‟s film about the health care systems of the United States, Canada, Britain,
France, and Cuba.
*used in ENGL 102 along with an essay assignment about health care reform.
Langdon
Happy Go-Lucky, a Mike Leigh film in which Sally Hawkins plays a character who might be
described as a contemporary laughing Buddha.
*used in ENGL 101A along with The Geography of Bliss.
Langdon
Weather Underground, chronicles the formation of the Weathermen in the context of the Civil
Rights Movement and the Women‟s Rights Movement. Includes information on the Students for
a Democratic Society, the Black Panthers, and COINTELPRO.
*Used in English 1A with Fugitive Days, along with research on activism in the 1960‟s
and 70‟s.
Yungerman
The Corporation deals with the history of why legally “corporations are people” in the U.S.,
connecting that to contemporary corporate profiteering and arguing that if corporations are
people, they behave like sociopaths.
*Used in English 7 in conjunction with Orwell‟s 1984 and other texts; course theme
“creative citizenship.”
McLean
Inside Job is a really lucid, complex yet accessible documentary, narrated by Matt Damon, on
the corporate/governmental shenanigans behind the recent collapse of the banking industry.
*Used in English 1A with Censored 2011. Great example of how major stories like this
go uncovered or marginally covered in the mainstream press.
McLean
Days of Waiting.On Japanese Internment; beautiful documentary.
*Used in 101A with a curriculum on the history of California, but could be used in many
contexts.
McLean
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Chabot College/2012
The Take. Documentary on the popular takeover and productive reclaiming of abandoned
factories in the wake of Argentina‟s economic collapse.
*Used in English 7 with Orwell‟s 1984 and other texts in a “creative citizenship”
curriculum.
McLean
Into the Wild. Fictional adaptation of real-life story of young American man who cut off all ties
to family, gave away all he owned and went to live in the Alaskan wilderness by himself.
*Used in 102 with the nonfiction book it was based on, Into the Wild, and also in 101A
separate from that book in a „happiness” curriculum based on The Geography of Bliss.
McLean
Supersize Me. Funny take on fast food in America; Morgan Spurlock sees what he would
look/feel like if he ate nothing but fast food for months.
*Used in 1A a curriculum based on Fast Food Nation. Would work well in any
food/health/ corporatization curriculum.
McLean
Daughter from Danang A woman who was a refugee of the Vietnam War, adopted as a baby by
Americans and grew up in Louisiana, returns to Vietnam to meet her family. Her findings re: the
culture and history are complex, and not what she expects.
*Used in 101B/102 with Catfish and Mandala
Tenn
Twilight, LA -- Anna Deveare Smith's performance piece on the LA Riots of 1992.
*Used in 1A along with the book version of Twilight, LA.
Tenn
Dear America: Letters Home from the Vietnam War, actors read original letters written by
soldiers during the war. Progression of the war from mid-„60s till its end, including some
historical footage from both Vietnam and the US.
*Used in Basic Skills with Catfish and Mandala; good for any historic/ war focus.
Zappa
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Chabot College/2012
Ancient Futures: Learning from the Ladakh, anthropologist Helena Norberg Hodge‟s film about
the ways that modernization encroaches on traditional cultures.
*Used in 1A along with Savages and/or Song of the Hummingbird
Land
La Mission, fictional film about male identity within the low-rider culture in which a father
struggles to accept his gay son.
*Used in English 102 with A Place to Stand and Muy Macho
Land
Precious Knowledge, a documentary about the recent banning of ethnic studies curriculum in
Arizona.
*Used in English 102 or 1A in connections with any text that looks at themes of
community cultural wealth, such as Freire‟s “The Banking Model of Education,”
Baldwin‟s “A Talk with Teachers” or Anzaldua‟s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”
Land
Harvest of Loneliness, a recent documentary about the Bracero program.
*Used in English 102 in conjunction with Devils Highway
Land
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