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Must See Movies These are movies that (in our opinion) illustrate the value and importance of music and music making in our lives! Check back occasionally for additions – You may also email us with suggested additions Music of the Heart Description: A popular and innovative teacher of violin at mostly black and Hispanic elementary schools in New York City is laid off due to budget cuts. The teacher refuses to accept her fate and fade away. She and the parents of her students band together to raise money to pay her salary. Can they succeed? Will the public take notice and support their efforts? Or are these children doomed to be deprived of their beloved teacher and their hope for an education in music? The film was inspired by the achievements of Roberta Guaspari and her students in the East Harlem Violin Program. Benefits: "Music of the Heart" has many strengths. It shows: young children eager to learn and practice the violin; caring and nurturing inner city schools; female role models; a committed and talented teacher; a dedicated principal; a crippled child overcoming her handicaps; and parents of all races in the melting pot of New York City working together to raise their children. The experiences of Ms. Guaspari and her violin program demonstrate that people can, with luck, sometimes triumph over misguided government policies. "Music of the Heart" will also introduce children to Carnegie Hall and to some of the great violinists of our time. The movie contains an excellent subplot about the heroine and her children dealing with their husband/father's decision to divorce the heroine and leave the family. Info: Recommended age: 13+; Rated PG for brief mild language and sensuality; Drama; 1999; 124 minutes Mr. Holland’s Opus Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation Description: When we're young our dreams lie out in front of us, there for the taking, and our plans seem so clear. But like many of us, Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) never could have predicted the course his own life would take, when he reluctantly accepts a job as a teacher. A musician and composer consumed with a love for music, Holland's true goal is to write one memorable piece of music to leave his mark on the world. But instead, he finds his calling in the most unlikely place, sharing his love of music with his students -- to let it fill their lives, the way it fills his. His students respond to his contagious passion, and as the years unfold, Holland finds himself on an unplanned path. Redefining success and his own dreams, Holland realizes that his legacy will be greater than he ever dreamed. And with the help of his students and his family, Glenn Holland learns that though our lives don't always turn out the way we plan them, life is what happens when you embrace the unexpected. Benefits: Mr. Holland is a musician who discovers his true vocation as a school teacher. He suffers some false starts with his students, and as a husband and father. However, he faces the opportunities, challenges, and tragedies of his life with love and commitment. This film is a "tear jerker" in the best sense: caring, disappointment, effort, hope, overcoming, failure, and acceptance tug at our heartstrings. Info: Recommended Age: 10+; Rated PG for mild language; Drama; 1995; 143 minutes Little Secrets Description: "Everybody needs someone with whom they can share their biggest, deepest secrets. But what happens when the Secret Keeper has a secret of her own? Emily (EVAN RACHEL WOOD) is a gifted young violinist who forfeits her summer vacation to practice for symphony try-outs. While her best friends are having the time of their lives at summer camp, Emily keeps busy as the neighborhood’s trusted Secret Keeper. An objective ear and a last resort for the guilty consciences of the neighborhood’s kids, Emily earns respect and admiration (and a healthy income) manning her post. But Emily has a couple secrets of her own, and they are too big to tell anyone. With violin practice coming along slowly, huge changes in her family fast approaching, and the neighborhood’s secrets threatening to boil over, Emily is forced to juggle the loyalties of her friends, family and customers. When Philip (MICHAEL ANGARANO) moves in next door, Emily finds herself with a new friend and even more problems on her hands, Phillip’s older brother David (DAVID GALLAGHER), also away at camp, has a secret that threatens to bring Emily’s past crashing into the present. A poignant examination of growing up, LITTLE SECRETS is a refreshingly mature film for kids and adults alike." Info: Recommended age: 10+; Rated PG for thematic elements; Family; 2002; 96 minutes Amadeus Description: This adaptation of the award winning play describes the marriage and death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791). The film also explores the following dilemma: if you are talented, if you spend years in training, if you work hard and if you are acclaimed by your peers for your achievements, how do you react when faced with true genius that easily outshines anything you can hope to accomplish, especially when that genius takes the form of a vulgar little imp.   Info: Recommended Age: 12+; Rated PG; Drama; 1984; 158 minutes Beethoven Lives Upstairs Description: Chistophe lives in Vienna with his mother and twin sisters when Mr. Beethoven comes to live upstairs. Christophe reports in letters to a favorite uncle that he wants the crabby and eccentric Mr. Beethoven to move out because of all the noise and trouble he causes. But Christophe gradually learns to respect Beethoven's musical genius and understand the difficulty of Beethoven's increasing deafness, until Beethoven invites Christophe to the premier of his Ninth Symphony. Info: Recommended Age: All; Rated G; Drama; 1992; 52 minutes August Rush Description: The story of a charismatic young Irish guitarist and a sheltered young cellist who have a chance encounter one magical night above New York's Washington Square, but are soon torn apart, leaving in their wake an infant, August Rush, orphaned by circumstance. Now performing on the streets of New York and cared for by a mysterious stranger, August uses his remarkable musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth. Info: Recommended Age: 12+; Rated PG; Romance; 2007; 114 minutes Teaching With Movies Website