"It's a waste of time!" angrily exclaims teenage Jeff to his college-bound sister, regarding the suggestion he try talking to their verbally abusive, alcoholic father. However, family problems will not vanish by ignoring or glossing over them, as this award-winning film clearly shows. Using an after-school special style, we see a "normal" family of four go on a supposedly relaxing camping vacation. However, the father has the previously mentioned problems, the mother is in complete denial, the son has drinking problems of his own coupled with low self-esteem, and the sister is a desperate but unsuccessful peacemaker. Tensions and difficulties that surface remain unresolved, and it takes a predictable boating accident to force them to confront the fact that their lives are very dysfunctional. Production values are high, and despite a somewhat slow beginning, the acting is believable. Kids will easily be able to identify with the issues presented: alcoholism, low self-esteem, peer pressure & identification, verbal abuse, co-dependency, and poor family communication. The teacher's guide is simply a short list of suggested follow-up questions and discussion activities. Recommended as an excellent introduction to family-relational and alcohol issues. Aud: J, H. (E. Gieschen)
Still Waters
(1996) 35 min. $199 (teacher’s guide included). Disney Educational Productions. PPR. Color cover. Vol. 11, Issue 5
Still Waters
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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