Episode 5

Plot: A young girl from South Los Angeles tries to make it to the National Spelling Bee.

Scene: Akeelah intentionaly mis-spells a word only to haver opponent demand she do her best.

Theme: Giving Your All

Focus Questions: Why is it important to others that you do your best?

Studio: Lions Gate Films

Directed by: Doug Atchison

Writing credits: Doug Atchison

Cast :
Keke Palmer ... Akeelah Anderson
Laurence Fishburne ... Dr. Joshua Larabee
Angela Bassett ... Tanya Anderson
Sean Michael ... Dylan Chiu

Plot: Capt. Picard and his crew pursue the Borg back in time to stop them from preventing Earth from initiating first contact with alien life.

Theme: Taking Pride In Your Vision

Focus Questions: What does it mean to be a great man?

Studio: Paramount

Directed by: Jonathan Frakes

Writing credits: Gene Roddenberry (television series Star Trek), Rick Berman (story) & Brannon Braga (story) & Ronald D. Moore (story), Brannon Braga (screenplay) & Ronald D. Moore (screenplay)

Cast:
Jonathan Frakes ... Commander William Riker
James Cromwell ... Dr. Zefram Cochrane

Plot: A listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.

Scene: Napoleon and his friend hope to find self-confidence from a martial arts instructor.

Theme: Seeking Self-Esteem

Focus Questions: How can you acquire self-esteem?

Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Directed by: Jared Hess

Writing credits: Jared Hess (written by) and Jerusha Hess (written by)

Cast :
Jon Heder ... Napoleon Dynamite
Aaron Ruell ... Kip Dynamite
Diedrich Bader ... Rex

Plot: A Texas baseball coach makes the major league after agreeing to try out if his high school team made the playoffs.

Scene: A coach encourages his players to take pride in themselves.

Theme: It's A Matter of Pride

Focus Questions: What makes you proud? Why?

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Directed by: John Lee Hancock

Writing credits: Mike Rich

Cast :
Dennis Quaid ... Jimmy Morris

Plot: A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.

Theme: Piracy

Focus Questions: Would you change your grade if you knew you wouldn’t get caught?

Studio: MGM

Directed by: John Badham

Writing credits: Lawrence Lasker (written by) & Walter F. Parkes (written by)

Cast:
Matthew Broderick ... David Lightman
Ally Sheedy ... Jennifer Katherine Mack

Plot: An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would had been like if he never existed.

Scene: George must calm a mob during a bank-run.

Theme: Responsibility

Focus Questions: Do Businesses and Customers Have Responsibilities to Each Other? Why? Why Not?

Studio: RKO Radio Pictures

Directed by: Frank Capra

Writing credits:Philip Van Doren Stern (story The Greatest Gift), Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett and Frank Capra

Cast :
James Stewart ... George Bailey
Donna Reed ... Mary Hatch Bailey

Plot: A dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.

Theme: Integrity

Focus Questions: Can your friends count on you? Why?

Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Directed by: John Sayles

Writing credits: Eliot Asinof (book), John Sayles (screenplay)

Cast :
John Cusack ... George 'Buck' Weaver

Plot: The story of how Bruce Wayne became what he was destined to be: Batman.

Scene: Bruce Wayne is told that actions define who we are, not our intentions.

Theme: Honorable Intentions

Focus Questions: Can intentions be honorable without action?

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Writing credits: Bob Kane (characters) & David S. Goyer (story), Christopher Nolan (screenplay) and David S. Goyer (screenplay)

Cast:
Christian Bale ... Bruce Wayne/Batman
Katie Holmes ... Rachel Dawes

Plot: After Lucas Nickle floods an ant colony with his watergun, he's magically shrunken down to insect size and sentenced to hard labor in the ruins.

Theme: Democracy

Focus Questions: What does “E Pluribus Unum” mean?

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Directed by: John A. Davis

Writing credits: John A. Davis,John Nickle (book)

Cast:
Nicolas Cage ... Zoc (voice)
Zach Tyler ... Lucas Nickle (voice) (as Zach Tyler Eisen)

Plot: To save Earth from an alien probe, Kirk and his crew go back in time to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it, humpback whales.

Theme: The Common Good

Focus Questions: In our country does the good of the many outweigh the good of the few? Why? Why not?

Studio: Paramount

Directed by: Leonard Nimoy

Writing credits: Gene Roddenberry (television series Star Trek), Leonard Nimoy (story) & Harve Bennett (story), Steve Meerson (screenplay) & Peter Krikes (screenplay) and Harve Bennett (screenplay) & Nicholas Meyer (screenplay)

Cast:
Leonard Nimoy ... Captain Spock
Jane Wyatt ... Amanda

Plot: Two Port Authority police officers become trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center.

Scene: John McLoughlin muses about the goodness of mankind.

Theme: The Common Good

Focus Questions: What qualities define
a good citizen?

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Directed by: Oliver Stone

Writing credits: Andrea Berloff (written by), John McLoughlin (true story) & Donna McLoughlin (true story) and William Jimeno (true story) & Allison Jimeno (true story)

Cast:
Nicolas Cage ... John McLoughlin
Michael Peña ... Will Jimeno

In response to September 11th, Film Clips commissioned Academy Award winning filmmaker Chuck Workman to create a 3-minute montage from the history of movies celebrating the spirit of America. Presented as a gift from the entertainment community to America, it played on more than 10,000 screens throughout the United States.

Theme: Many virtues define the Spirit of America. Especially during these challenging times, it is important to explore, discuss and evaluate our past, present, and future commitment to the Spirit and Character of America.

Focus Questions: What is the Spirit of America? How can we preserve and renew the best qualities of the Spirit of America in these challenging times?