r., thar regard, our survey ofteachers,top 100 fllms dJes noiOlsappoint. 700 of you resporlded to tf," .ufl?.

o"_ fESro choose your top 10 films of all time. ltiese were ttten collated into as voted ror ny irreieacrring llgy::l,T_s profession. The results -ur." ro."oi"

p,iJ"" opinion quite so efficienily as a rop 100,list. A"; ;t;;;io "il"J:lllq:115.y:i1d .Jrlr. p"opr"s favourites - whether nms, noots ., clips _ will inevitably provoke bofh an{:iTtue'trgrli.',iio "lr"""Vfr,iirbe

my most hated fiIm.., Tallack, who teaches English literature and film at south Gloucestershire and Stroud College n tf_,""Sorrtf, West of England, is not impressedby th" il;";';;;;"tic comedy. "It's a film posing as an arthou"" nf* _ ur i.oirensive, quiet Sunday evening arthouse nlm. Where *"'tfr""nf*" tf_rut question common morality?,, he asks.

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T"_"ot at all surprised that T,lze Shuwshank Redernption is number one,,, Kirsten C";ki; enthuses. "It's a strong nfm,'witfr l satways going to be a success. "Neil.her am I surprise cl lhat Loue Acluttll u . rs_ox there. lts a l"amily film ard to f nat exi"enf rrs very successfrrl." Geekie, who is a film programmer at F.ilmclub, a UK charity that works with schools to get more pooll e learn ing about an d rt,.ouen" fl_. l-o,uT,g. rs rarl<lng aboul the f6S Iist olteachers; top 100 movies. But auhoueh she may rr" its "honesry", ir is tajr to say ihar agrees. "It is so self-moralising,,,Laurie ,.As soon as I saw thatThe

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the murder of his wife. Nominated for Awards, it missed out on every "'",Jui"a"uo"*v Oscar, inctuJing the one for-best fllm, which wentto Fittest Ciiifnumnu, eight on our list). Desprre tnis, Snataliai )"e"r*ro appears near lhe [op o[ favourite film fi"r., *llfl

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Pglhans because of its popularity, it is not y.l1l":' irs delracfors, as Tim nobov, nim' ,9r t h.e Do its Tctesraph anO eeC :11,1. nauto 4, pornts out. "Ihe Sharcshank Redempti,on is

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something more unusual fromthe list [of teachers' favourite filmsl. It's very safe.', In second place is the first instalment of the
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gyerybodV's favourite,middlebrow, best fiIm," Robey says. .,It always comes in at number two in the Internet Movie Database [iMDb] lists. "I have to say I was expecting

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.Rirt4. Mrrcrlrliktt 7hr' ,\lrrttt'slttrttl; Iittlt'tttltt itttt, wlticlt tr; lr;r:'r''l on a novella by St,cplrcrr l(irrg, /'i'l/orrr's/t,tlr is ilrt :ttlitlrl:tliorr of a text that already h:lrl :r Irr tgtr lttttl t:tltttltlil.l'tl<l Iittt Ir;rsr' And although some may btl st,tnned t'hat F.d,l,o'tpsh1'1t w:t:; rated so highly, the fllm that only just missed out on I'lrirl number two slot is sure to raise even more eyebrows: -l)l1rl Dancing comes in at third place, proving that nobody'

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particularly teachers, is inclined to "put Baby in the corncr"' "I was a bit shocked to see Di,rty Danci'ng at number thrcc, but if you consider that the majority of teachers are women' maybe it's not that surprising," Geekie says. "I [also] didn't think TTte Lorcl of the -Rings would be so high up." But aside from revealing a love for dancing-based romances, the list also provides an insight into the minds of teachers' It appears to show that, far more than an1'thing else, they turn to fllms as a distraction from their often gruelling day jobs' "There is a lot of fantasy and escapism," Geekie points out' "A lot of love stories and a complete removal from the real world. It shows how they treat fllm: rather than thinking about it in curriculum terms, it is something they use to switch off'" Robey agrees. "There is lots offeel-good stuff, and lots of crowd-pleasers," he says. "Loue Actually, for instance, that's a guilty pleasure. It's a movie that very few fllm critics would ever admit to enjoying, and in a way it's kind of refreshing to see [the teachers] have chosen in such an uncensored way'" Unsurprisingly, in a list compiled by people working with

lrrlrlrr,rr;rrrrl y0rrrrg pr'o1rltl, 1rlt'rrly ol ;rrililr;rlr.rl llltttt; li'ltl,tttr" lrigltt'sl' 1r;rrlt(.ttl;ttl.y lirrttt I'ixltrlrrr<l l)istrcv, wrllr ///r t,otttittll rn l lrt' l rirl l lc ol' l ltc it,ttinlations itl.ir tirrl l i(il l r pl:rct'' "l rlirl Llrirrk lltit.l,:rn animated lilnr Irriglrl lolr lltc lisl ," ( it't'l<it' s:tvs. "l wotrltl have thouglrt tht:r'c wortltl lre lots of liirls' lilrrrs, Lh:rl, l,ht'v would choose from the pclint of view oI' I roirrg it t,cit.t:ltt'r." lhrl, althotrglr l,lrc list contains plenty of fllms that ateacher rrriglrt show lltrir t:liuss, it has a near total absence of fllms about teaching il,sttll'. The highest-placed entry about the profession (a1, nurrtber ll) is Dead Poets Soci'ety, starring Robin Williarns ir.s :ln inspirational teacher who challenges his students to go against the status quo. "It's not at zrll surprising to see Dead Poets Society in there, and it says a lot lhat it is higher than Fen'is Bueller's Day OJf, which, I think, shows how [teachers] want to see themselves,"
Geekie says.

However, the only other fllms that even come close to the subject of teaching are those that take the point of view of the student rather than the teacher, such as John Hughes' 1985 coming-of-age classic The Breahfast Club. "I was expecting to see fllms like HaIJ'Nel,soz, which in my mind is one of the greatest fllms about teaching ever made," Tallack says. "It is about a teacher [played by Ryan Gosling] who is a crack adclict, who takes on a student who is forced to become a drug dealer herself. Gosling has to steer her in the

1 2 3 4 5

Dead Poets SocietY

Grease

Harry Potter and fhe

Philosopher's Sfone The Breakfast Club Ferris Bueller's DaY Off

One fhing that is in short in our list of teachers'top

supply 1OO

films is films about teaching. The highest-placed film that

revolves around school is Dead Poets SocietY at number 11. The 1989 hit stars Robin Williams as an inspirational English teacher. ln joint 19th place is highschool musical Grease, the

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next film that even comes close to being about teaching. And while the soundtrack maY be regularly played in school halls up and down the land, a critique of life at the chalkface it is noi. As English literature and film teacher Laurie Tallack points out, there is no shortage of films about the profession, such as Io Sir, With Love, in which Sidney Poitier plays a teacher in a challenging school in London' Another film missing from the list is Sfand and De/iver, which was based on fhe true storY of a teacher who inspired his

students to learn calculus to boost their self-esteem. The students do so well in tests that they are accused of cheating' And, most surPrisinglY, there is no place for perhaPs the most well-known film with a teacher as the central character: 1939's Goodbye, Mr Chips, which won Robert Donai an Oscar' What the lisi does suggest is that the all-consuming nature of teachers'jobs means that when they watch a film, theY want to get away from it all. Oscar-winning producer Lord Puttnam, who is heavilY involved

in education, said the list showed teachers as normal people. "This list is, I think, all about teachers as'movie-goers' and TV viewers, not as teachers as such. I think you

would get

remarkably similar list if you asked doctors, nurses or social workers," he said.

'Although they might have added al least one of mine."

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

The Shawshank Redemption The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of

the Ring Dirty Dancing

Star Wars: Episode lV - A New Hope Pulp Fiction lt's a Wonderful Life
Love Actually Forrest Gump Blade Runner

30 51 32 53 14

lnception The Notebook

Pan's Labyrinth

57= 57=

Cinema Paradiso
E.T.

88

the Extra-

Skyfall

59
6O=

Bridget Jones's DiarY

60= 62= 62= 62= 55= 65=

Terrestrial Stardust The Dark Knight Fight Club Life is Beaufiful Life of Brian When Harry Met Sally... Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Jaws

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 89= 2001: A Space Odyssey 89= Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

89=

SeTen 10

92

Things I Hate About You

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Am6lie Dead Poets SocietY Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 15 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 1IN The Godfaiher 15 Gladiator 16 Schindler's List 17 The Sound of Music 18 The Green Mile 19= Back to the Future

35

Titanic

56= Raiders of the Lost Ark 36= Up 38= GoodFellas 58= Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone 40 Despicable Me 41= One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 41= Toy Story 43 Mamma Mia! 44= The Breakfast Club 44= Finding Nemo 46= The Goonies 46= Stand by Me 48= The Hunger Games 48= To Kill a Mockingbird 50 The Lion King 51= Apocalypse Now 51= The Wizard of Oz

67 68 69 70 71 72 73

Elf The Big Lebowski Jurassic Park

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Trainspotting
Alien The Hobbit: An Unexpected JourneY Four Weddings and
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Angry Men

77= Butch Cassidy and the

Sundance Kid

96= Little Miss Sunshine 96= Matilda 96= The Shining 99= Billy Elliot
99= Edward Scissorhands

19=

Grease

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 2A 29

Pretty Woman
The Princess Bride Moulin Rouge! Les Mis6rables Pride and Prejudice

77= Home Alone 77= Notting Hill 80= The Dark Knight

Rises

8O= The Great Escape

80= The King's Speech 85= L6on: The

Professional

(200s) The Matrix Gone with the Wind

Casablanca

83= Pitch Perfect 83= Shakespeare in

Love

53

Avatar

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

54= Beauty and the Beast 54= Marvel's The Avengers 54= Shrek

86= American Beauty 86= The Godfather:

Part ll

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right direction before she potentially becomes his dealer. It's a superb film but there's not a mention of it." The lack of subversion and the hear,y presence of Hollywood productions with happy endings is something that stands out all too clearly for Tallack. The list should have boasted a lot more of what could be classed as "high art", he believes. "Teachers are going to be well versed in good art and will have come across subversive moral messages, those ::,:i: that question common morality, but instead we have : '' an'Amdlie list'," he says. "As an English teacher, , I think the list should reflect great aft rather than a ;: strong moral message. The Gocffathet'doesn't feature until number 14, for instance. In terrns of great art, it doesn't say a lot."

An 'honest' selection
Indeed, perhaps one of the most telling things about the list is the fllms that didn't make the top 100 at all. There is no Woody Allen or Alfred Hitchcock, while Stanley Kubrick and the Coen brothers do not appear until joint 89th place (200 1 : A Space Odysseg) and 93rd place (F ar g o), respectively. "There are disappointingly few foreign films," Robey muses. "Pan's Lab'yrinth is there, but you could argue that is a children's fllm, and then there's Amdlie, which, I suppose, is kind of foreign "Sch'tndler's List lat number 161 is perhaps the highestplaced film that is a trrrly sincere piece of art, with any serious depth. I imagine it gets used quite a lot as a teaching aid." And would the critic be happy to see these 100 films line the classroom wall of his own children? "It would totally depend on the age of the child," Robey says. "If they were 8 or 9, I think there is a lot in here that would be enloyable for them and worthwhile. But if I had a 16-year-old, I would rather they broadened their horizons." When ZZS compiled a list of teachers'top 100 books earlier this year ("Shelf assessment", 5 April), there were surprisingly few popular flction choices. Indeed, the top 10 was full of classics from the 20th century (such as Nitleteen Eighty-Fourby George Orwell) and the 19th century (for example, Pride and Prejudiceby Jane Austen, which came first). But when choosing their favourite films, teachers appear to use very

different criteria. "I think it's a reflection that teachers are just norrnal
people," Geekie ventures. "There's a smattering of classics in there, and some American independent films, but it's obviously come from a very personal point of view rather than a selection of fllms that they felt should go in. "It's a really honest list, which is nice." 9