¿Quién disparó contra el profesor?

I liked this way more than I thought I would. It's about a guy (Bud Cort from Harold & Maude) who comes out on a long train ride to the middle of nowhere in Canada during the Depression to teach in a tiny one room schoolhouse. There's a door in the floor that leads to a little bedroom underneath the school for him to live in after schools gets out & the kids go home. It's a small poor community with about 10 kids in grades 2-9 that are all taught together in the schoolhouse. This movie is interesting because it shows how these poor families lived, barely surviving in the long freezing winters & springs of rural Canada. The kids actually spent their recess time hunting gophers in the wide open praires because for every gopher tail they sent to the Canadian government they got back .10 cents! The gophers damaged valuable wheat crops. The teacher made $20 a month, paid in Promissory Notes! Since the teacher arrived broke & wasn't making actual money (the Promissory Notes weren't any good until after the school year was over) the community provided him with used clothes, blankets, food & water. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It has some funny scenes of the clueless teacher from the city slowly figuring how & what to teach these isolated kids with no supplies or books & how to get along with the families. Survival was definitely tough for the teacher. He didn't know anyone & he's in the middle of nowhere in freezing blizzards without a paycheck or money. He begs the one school board member in charge of his paycheck for some money & the guy asks him what he needs money for? Teacher says clothes. School board guy says we gave you used clothes & anyway what do you need clothes for? You're not going anywhere. True. Teacher says food. School guy says we bring you food. Which they did regularly everyday! I highly recommend this.

The film WHY SHOOT THE TEACHER? stars American Bud Cort, star of many Robert Altman classics, and British actress Samantha Eggar. Other than that, the film is truly Canadian. The story, based on the autobiography of Max Braithwaite, is a humourous, entertaining slice of life in the Canadian Dust Bowl. It's as good as any other film to clearly show the extent that the Great Depression had in rural communities. The production, cast, props, etc., make this an excellent period piece of the 1930s. Many of the co-stars are amateurs but this only emphasizes the realism of the picture. Overall, if you need to show someone a video about the Great Depression, and you don't have access to THE GRAPES OF WRATH, then WHY SHOOT THE TEACHER? will be a worthy substitute.

This movie allowed the viewer to gain some insight into life in the prairies. It is used in many classrooms as a tool which discusses information on the 1930s. The movie also contains some humour, even if it was corny.

However the movie lacks strong does not expand on certain issues. For instance, it would have been interesting to know how many persons came out West during the depression. Or how this migration affected the prairies. Providing these details would have made the movie more informative to watch.

VG

In my opinion, this movie is good to describe the 1930's Depression in the Praries because it exactly describes the way people had to live in those times, especially when the snow and dust storms arrive. Also the people had to "catch" gophers because they always ruin the farmers crops. Because the people couldn't grow the crops, they almost couldn't afford anything. This caused poverty and many people left the Praries. So they couldn't hire school teachers for education, etc.

So in other words, this movie is good for a history class that is covering the 1920's-1930's depression because it gives an accurate description of the events in the prairies.

I think that the movie, "Why Shoot the Teacher," was pretty accurate in displaying what really went on during the 1930s. It showed many difficulties people had during the Great Depression, such as unemployment. The movie focuses on one man, Max Brown who decides to go to the Prairies to work as a teacher. We watched with anticipation and curiosity to see how he would do with the new children. I believe the movie was effective because they displayed Mr. Brown as a very innocent man. During hard times, we feel sorry for him, because he is such a nice man and is struggling to stay on his own feet with people trying to walk all over him. In the end, I think the movie wasn't bad. I think it was very helpful in giving us some insight to what really happened during such harsh times.