Review of Paper Clips (2004) by Lisa B — 14 Mar 2009

This is the most American of stories of a dreamer with an incredibly crazy idea sets in motion a series of events that changes everyone. In this case a middle school principal wanted to do something to introduce diversity into a homogenous East tennessee middle school.

So the assistant principal attended a convention where he got the idea to teach 8th grade students about the horrors of the holocaust. During one of the classes a student had trouble visualizing the number of people that were murdered so someone got the idea of collecting one paper clip, the paper clip being a symbol of norwegian resistence against the Nazis during WWII, for each of the victims of the holocaust.

Eventually word of the project spread nationally and internationally and they were soon bombarded with millions of paper clips many with very personal stories of those they honored. Of course to see that many of anything assembled in one place is powerful especially when they're housed in a cattle car that once used to carry jewish prisoners to their deaths.

Along the way the students meet Holocaust survivors and are moved by their courageous stories. What's remarkable is that this memorial takes place in area, as is pointed out in the movie, that's within 100 miles of the modern birthplace of the Ku KLux Klan and 40 miles south of the location of the Scopes Monkey Trial.

What is amazing is how the people of Whitwell were changed by their experience, not that they're bad people of anything, and used the project as an opportunity for self reflection.