AP United States History                                                                                                                                                             Dr. VA

 

 

 

VA’S FAR OUT 1ST QUARTER EXTRA CREDIT BARGAIN BONANZA

 

 

            Now here’s a REAL deal!  All of this is entirely optional, meaning that you don’t have to do any of it if you don’t want to, but, for a whole 2 points each (to be added to your 1st quarter total of earned quiz/test points), you may select any of the following:, up to a limit of THREE.

 

 

            Black Robe (Director Bruce Beresford’s 1991 film.  It’s hard enough to make a film about historical events; here’s one about a whole cultural process—or, perhaps better to say, a clash of radically different cultures.  Jesuit missionaries, Iroquois, Hurons.  Realistic scenes.) 

 

            A Midwife’s Tale (Coming soon to a VA theater near you.  The world of a frontier midwife, unfolding in a small Maine town during the turbulent decades following the American Revolution.  A beautiful film, based on Laurel Ulrich’s Pulitzer Prize-winning history.) 

 

            The Last of the Mohicans (A 1992 film by director Michael Mann, adopted from the older film, adopted from the famous James Fenimore Cooper novel.  Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe.  A romanticized rendition of the French and Indian War.) 

 

            Revolution (1985, by British director Hugh Hudson, with Al Pacino and Donald Sutherland—a history-from-the-bottom-up story about the people during the American Revolutionary period.  Not a box office blockbuster in its day, but you can probably still find it at Blockbuster, or wherever you shop for videos.)

 

            John Adams--Episodes 1-3 (The first three parts of the 2008 HBO miniseries, based on David McCullough's Pulitizer Prize winning biography.  Starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney.  Realistically done, dramatic, and engaging.  First quarter credit is given only for the first three of the seven parts; you must watch all three in order to receive credit.)  

 

 

            For credit in the AP course, the reviews have to be no less than 500 words.  That would about two well-written, word-processed pages, double-spaced.  Don't forget to divide your discussion into several paragraphs (not just one overly long one).  You may not write a word until you have watched the whole movie at least once. 

 

Please, be sure to analyze each film—its strengths and weaknesses.  Don’t just summarize it.  A summary isn’t a review.  (Note: If your review falls short of the length requirement, or if it is not sufficiently perceptive in analysis, I will not be able to accept it for credit.) 

 

A FRIENDLY WARNING: IT IS NOW THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT'S POLICY THAT ANY WRITTEN WORK SUBMITTED FOR CREDIT MUST BE CHECKED ELECTRONICALLY FOR PLAGIARISM.  ANYONE FOUND GUILTY OF THIS OFFENSE MAY EXPECT PUNISHMENT UNDER BRUNSWICK AND GREENWICH ACADEMY DISCIPLINARY POLICIES.