...when I was at school. We watched "Citizen Kane", "A Clockwork Orange", "Brief Encounter", "Apocalypse Now", "Double Indemnity" and quite a lot more. All incredibly accomplished films, all with moral questions at their centre which inspire a lot of debate.

I've taught "Double Indemnity" plenty of times to kids. They love it, once they get past the b&w.

...any film is worth discussing with teenagers. It's the discussion that matters more than the film. I well remember being herded into the school hall and made to watch The Battleship Potemkin and The Grapes Of Wrath. I don't think we understood why. I don't think the teachers did either.

Actually I've briefly managed to engage the attention of my offspring by talking about Hitchcock films, either after watching them or just in theory. Fear and the nature of suspense are subjects that kids warm to and you can have some quite illuminating discussions around them. For instance my youngest daughter reckons "Rear Window" is the most frightening film she's ever seen even though the only frightening moment involves one actor looking at the camera. And for those who haven't seen it...

When I was 16 at school they showed us the Sustin Hoffman version of Death Of A Salesman and it knocked me out.

Post

Unfortuantely they mostly have a high snigger factor.

I'd start with American Grafitti, the explicit theme of "What am I going to do with my life?" should resonate with them. It'll also introduce them to some fantastic music.

The Roeg film Walkabout is I beleive the only film to be rated PG in the USA despite the fact it has nudity, two suicides and other acts of extreme violence (a parent trying to kill his children no less) It's a one of a kind film so they won't have seen anything like it.

... 'less you're going to pick up the future therapy bills!

How about 'Crash' (the Paul Haggis one, not Cronenburg's)? Might not be unanimously acclaimed, 'hip' or avant garde but I would have thought it could spark good debate.

on what you're trying to do is my feeling. I ran something similar for sixth-form kids a few years back.

If you want to overcome the black and white antipathy (and it's amazingly strong) then Double Indemnity is a good choice. Twelve Angry Men works better than you might think.

Trying to stress auteur theory? Citizen Kane may be a cliched choice for this, but there's a reason for that. It's also a damn sight more entertaining than its cobwebbed reputation could lead you to believe.

Looking at screenplays and thematic unity--try Chinatown. (I wrote handouts for these and I'd love to be able to find them again.)

Finally though, pick something that you genuinely love yourself and that you can talk about enthusisatically. Don't make it something worthy: "you should love this" type of thing.

Those are all great suggestions, some of which I'd never even think of. Much obliged to all of you.

Its a brilliant film about the nature and implications of film making.Should start a discussion about representations on screen.

Its a brilliant film about the nature and implications of film making.Should start a discussion about representations on screen.

Good suggestion.

Which apparently champions art over dull commerce but has a deeply bland and fluffy take on that art.

seek out the message, because when you find it, wow!

Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Sixteen_%282002_film%29

but only if its okay for them to see an 18 and I guess it isn't. Loach was disgusted that his film about being 16 isn't allowed to be seen by the people whose lives it addresses.

also I think the following would produce interesting conversations and would potentially both engage the kids and be outside what they would generally come into contact with:

King Of Comedy

Delicatessen

The Reader

Let The Right One In

12 Monkeys

Rushmore

Rashomon

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe

Hotel Rwanda

Alfie (the original)

The Shawshank Redemption

Vertigo

Vera Drake

The Visitor-Tom McCarthy.
Au Revoir Les Enfants-Louis Malle.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre-John Huston.
Cape Fear-Lee Thompson.
Requiem for a Dream-Darren Aronofsky.
Anatomy of a Murder-Otto Preminger.
Hope this gives you some food for thought,let us know what your young charges think,should be interesting.

"Once were Warriors" - Lee Tamahori
"The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" - Tony Richardson
"The Return" - Andrey Zvyagintsev

There really are some quite inspired choices. Let's see which ones get the thumbs up from the powers that be.

12 Angry Men
A Clockwork Orange
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Juno (teen pregnancy)
The Truman Show (reality tv)
In The Heat Of The Night (racism)
A Matter of Life and Death (love, sacrifice, death, life, the universe and everything ... just read the plot summary again and seem to have something in my eye)

We're trying to get one running at the moment, though mostly for 14-15 year olds. We're showing 'Up' this week.

http://www.filmclub.org//

I lecture in the Social and Historical development of Popular music and regularly breakout these for much debate on Pop culture....

This Is England

15 Minutes

Canadian Bacon

Do the Right Thing

The Day After Tomorrow - strange and cheesy choice, but this looks more and more like the evening news each week.

don,t let them see "Ferris Bueller,s day off" or they may end up skipping school and going to art galleries instead!

... aren't a lot of them a bit bloke-ish? On the assumption that this is a co-ed school, and at the risk of sweeping-generalisations, you'd need to make sure that the film has an emotional resonance too.

I raised my eyebrows at Peeping Tom and Clockwork Orange for instance - aren't both just plain nasty? (purely my own opinion, but I can easily see many others coming to the same conclusion before the credits roll). They have undoubted qualities, but more of an intellectual nature, and maybe don't showcase the full potential of cinema to engage people?

Some suggestions:

Little Miss Sunshine
Fearless
Play It Again Sam (Woody Allen)
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Capote

Hidden may be a good one too, if only to bring out why it's so ****ing infuriating!

...many comedies among these suggestions, so I'll put a word in for Groundhog Day.

It would give you plenty of scope for a 'what's the meaning of life?' discussion.

both Groundhog Day

and This Is England.

And also I can totally see how The Day After Tomorrow could work really well (I really enjoy that film.)

Also I don't think my suggestions were blokish, or even that many of the others were, but just in case how about:

Persepolis

The Piano

Boys Don't Cry

Spirited Away

Ghost World

and Terminator 1 and 2

Really I'm just untilising the blokish comment to suggest a few more.

So many of these I've seen and their merits for educational debate are well-identified by you all. Ta!

Wonderful and heartwrenching film.

I'll get to those in a sec. Just wanted to address the "Clockwork Orange" "nastiness" thing. I can't stand the film, even though it's me who recommended it - I completely agree: it's a thoroughly unpleasant way to pass two hours. But it doesn't half inspire debate. I mean, pick an issue: the gratuity (or otherwise) of the violence, the "hypodermic syringe" idea of how people understand art, the unpleasant sexuality, you name it. Lots to talk about. I think revulsion is a pretty good starting point for talking about interesting stuff.

Comedies, though. Most recently, I've loved "Funny People", and I actually think the best of the Apatow catalogue stands up alongside plenty of classics. Speaking of which, "Duck Soup" is pretty much the funniest thing ever filmed. "Arsenic And Old Lace" is lovely, as are some of the Ealings, like "The Ladykillers" and "Passport To Pimlico". I will never tire of telling people that "Ghostbusters" is a proper classic. "Sideways" is my absolute first choice if I want a feelgood comedy. "Withnail and I" should be seen by absolutely every sixth-former in the land until the Last Trump sounds. They'll watch it to death, then abandon it in their twenties through overuse, then come back to it in their thirties out of nostalgia, and realise how wonderful it really is, student cliché notwithstanding. And I'm going to end on a potentially contentious one, because I know how the following name can arouse ire in sections of the Massive: Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" is laugh-out-loud funny, touching, beautifully acted (yeah, OK, apart from Keanu) and has made a lot of teenagers I've taught rethink their typical ideas about Shakespeare. Although they might have done the play for their SATS in Year 9, of course, in which case, they will have seen it.

'12 Angry Men' is certainly an excellent suggestion.

'2001 - A Space Odyssey' may be worth considering, not only because of the visual feast, unusual story line, and Kubrick, but also because of the music.

Other suggestions:

'Cinema Paradiso'

'Kes'

'Henry V' (Olivier)

'Hamlet' (Kenneth Branagh in the lead role)

'fight club', 'scum' and 'afterschool'
make sure they switch their phones off

"West Side Story" - springboards into the relevance of Shakespeare in today's world, musicals in the age of "Glee", the immigrant experience, gangs and knife crime.

"The Producers" (original, not the musical) - black comedy in general, can anyone make fun of the Nazis or is it a Jewish prerogative, how soon is too soon, is anything off limits? (Follow-up with a trip to see "Four Lions")

Also Billy Elliott and Gregory's Girl, but as always depends on the context.

Downfall would be an excellent counterpoint discussion to any US flag waving WW2 film.

Letter to Brezhnev - nice illustration of the Thatcher/Militant schism of the early/mid eighties

Beautiful, factual and funny about the fall of communism in East Germany, and subsequently about the fall of East Germany as well. About different ways of looking at the same story, that light can come out of darkness, love, friendship and all this told with quite a few laughs.

It´s in German, rather than English with German accents. It made me laugh, cry and think. A friend of mine who grew up in East Berlin says "that´s exactly what it was like".

The Life Of Others is even better but also heavier and probably requires more discussion and knowledge. Not sure how old the kids/youths are.

On a related note - we watch Skins and Shameless with my teenage son - the latter tends to make my wife a bit squeemish because some of the dialogue/storyline is a bit graphic - but compared with the celebrity/reality shows dross usually on - real drama of a UK origin is hard to find!

On a related note - we watch Skins and Shameless with my teenage son - the latter tends to make my wife a bit squeemish because some of the dialogue/storyline is a bit graphic - but compared with the celebrity/reality shows dross usually on - real drama of a UK origin is hard to find!

House of Games - great film in which to discuss issues of deception and illusion as well as how successful or not its heavy stylisation is, particularly with that "Mamet speak". Perhaps as a double-bill with Vertigo to compare and contrast themes of deception and paranoia and for use of stylisation.

Gattaca - intelligent sci-fi with real and credible concepts about genetics, cloning etc. Would make a good double-bill with Children of Men for comparing and contrasting themes and ideas or even with AI.

If... - a good film to show how a school culture/conformity can create a mob culture/alienation. Has it dated badly? Could work as a double-bill with Battle Royale or perhaps Election

Once - a different kind of musical and a different kind of love story: unconsummated. Maybe as a double-bill with A Hard Day's Night to compare and contrast the cinema verite stylisations or with Harold and Maude for the unconsummated love story theme.

Memento - A good one for the unusual time sequence. Perhaps a double bill with Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind or Harold Pinter's Betrayal.

Great great suggestions.

I saw this on the "...Weekend" e-mail, so this might be a bit late. Went The Day Well? is a 68-year-old film with very modern resonance -- dealing with issues like reasonable responses to armed invasion, making assumptions about people from first impressions, and so on. And it's a great film.

A thoroughly heartwarming coming-of-age film with potential family breakdown, disappointment, teenage love, and undying optimism. Beautifully shot and acted. I got my 14 year old boy to (initially reluctantly) watch it recently and he really, really enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

How about Soylent Green, a really fine film with a message that is pretty relevant to today (euthanasia, over population & environmental meltdown). 'Network' would be another one. Both avoid the obvious.