"What do you want to be when you grow up?" "I always wanted to be 29" says 6-year-old Aaron Jones. "I want to be a genius" says another boy. "I want to help other people" says Skipper Mutry. The other answers, "soldier, astronaut, teacher, president, nurse, engineer" are probably less surprising, until we learn they are all coming from the mouths of black children from P.S. 197 in Harlem, and the year is 1968. Their answers were recorded on film back then as part of a public service campaign for the New York Urban Coalition. Rioting in Watts and hundreds of other cities had put the nation on edge and led New York Mayor John Lindsay to order these spots, which urged people to "give jobs, give money, give a damn." Adam Isadore was also 6-years-old when his father directed these provocative PSA's. Twenty five years later, Adam sets out with a movie camera of his own to answer the question "where are these people now and what became of their dreams"? He posts "wanted" posters of the children all across Harlem and manages, remarkably, to locate 15 of the 18 children, now in their 30's, leading lives markedly different from their childhood dreams. The "astronaut" is now a garbage man, taking more destructive journeys in inner space through drugs. The "president" is a puppeteer on Sesame Street. The "teacher" is a health care activist. And the "people helper" can't even help himself, bouncing regularly between the streets and a jail cell. But Isadore's film asks more poignant questions than just "what happened" to a bunch of kids and their dreams. It asks us to consider what has happened to the activism and compassion so memorably demonstrated in those commercials and in our society in 1968. It asks us to "give a damn again," which simply means to nurture our dreams and the dreams of those around us. To tell all children that their dreams are important, no matter what neighborhood they live in or what color their skin. It seems to me that giving a damn about others is, in itself, the dream. It's a message we can't say often enough. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Ray)
Give a Damn Again
(1995) 63 min. $195. Lucerne Media. PPR. Vol. 12, Issue 2
Give a Damn Again
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