It's hard to find fault with the motives of the teachers and the kids. Their determination and results are admirable.
Comment
02/10/05
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Paper Clips (2004)
71
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Reviews Counted:51
Fresh:36
Rotten:15
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: A touching, though somewhat flat, documentary that follows a homogenous class of white Protestant eighth graders as they learn the importance of tolerance by erecting a monument to the 6 million victims of the Holocaust.
Theatrical Release:Sep 8, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: The town of Whitwell is a tiny community of about two thousand people nestled in the mountains of Tennessee. Its citizens are almost exclusively white and Christian. In 1998, the children of... [More]
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Reviews for Paper Clips
Top CriticWhere other documentarians look for a charismatic personality to enliven their films, Berlin and Fab focus on the community as a whole.
03/24/05
Touching and inspiring.
02/03/05
Top CriticIt's difficult to watch this and not get swept away by the emotion of their journey... It's not a perfect documentary, but it's a very moving one.
02/18/05
Paper Clips is two movies: the movie its makers think it is, and the movie it actually is. One of them is pretty good.
05/05/05
A small, heartening slice of life that feels like a crucial step toward something bigger.
02/11/05
The best way to appreciate Joe Fab and Elliot Berlin's documentary is to ignore the mood-bullying music, cheesy narration and plodding style so you can focus on the touching story at its heart.
11/29/04
Top CriticThere is something quite heartening about watching these kids earnestly guide others around their memorial, which was four years in the making.
11/24/04
The film is constructed simply, even amateurishly, but the power of what's being done comes through loud and clear. The material is far better than the movie.
05/11/05
It's nice, and occasionally affecting, but also fairly pedestrian.
02/22/05
Affectingly documents an example of caring, concerned students and the inspiring educators who lead them.
04/08/05
Will always succeed with audiences because it documents an A-level grass-roots effort. But as filmmaking, the disappointment is that it manages only C-level vision.
12/17/04
Low-key but inspirational.
02/18/05
A moving experience.
02/04/05
What makes Paper Clips so powerful and moving is the way everyone in the film seems affected by the Whitwell project. The students change. The teachers change. The townspeople change.
03/04/05
Attests to the transforming and far-reaching power of a simple idea.
11/23/04
Top CriticYou will never look at the familiar little fasteners the same way again. This is an incredible 87 minutes in a movie theater on several levels.
04/26/05
[A] heartfelt, if rather repetitive, documentary.
04/29/05
Despite its flaws, the movie does have some valuable lessons to teach and uplifting words to share.
12/10/04
Top CriticThe events depicted in Paper Clips are by turns heartwarming, horrifying, amazing, and exactly the type of real-world improbability that the documentary form was created for.
02/20/05
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