Historical documentary film is an effective way of teaching history.

Extraordinary claims are made

about the power of motion pictures to teach history— that documentary movies have the capacity to lift
students to “a higher level of inquiry” (Sabato, 1992, p. 84). It preserves details of life that may not be
communicated or appreciated in writing” (Johnson and Vargas, 1994, p. 109), and to help history “come
alive to students” (Dobbs, 1987, p. 16). Indeed, the power of films to motivate student learning about
history shouldn’t be underestimated. Movies are part of youth culture—students are exposed to them far
beyond the walls of their schools and even before formal schooling begins.

Films are part of youth culture. Students are exposed to them far beyond the walls of their
schools and even before formal schooling begins. They often bring to class personal interest in, and
sometimes prior knowledge about, movies set in the past. Young people may get more excited about
lessons using popular media than about instruction only using official school materials such as textbooks,
primary documents, or worksheets. Scholarship on history education suggests that movies have
considerable potential to contribute to a variety of competencies of historical literacy (Marcus, 2005;
Metzger, 2007b). Historical literacy skills or the ability to interpret and understand a text by analyzing its
meaning to the participants and their culture provide students with the tools to develop a historical
understanding.

Few studies have examined the use of films by history teachers in classrooms as part of overall
teaching practice. In their detailed analysis, Metzger and Suh (2008) found that the teachers whom they
studied used films to help students recognize particular perspectives from the past and develop aspects
of historical empathy. However, Metzger and Suh’s and Marcus’s (2005, 2007) studies of use of films in
classrooms found that the teachers used films without asking students to do any kind of critical analysis of
the representations in the films, focusing instead on the story that is being told.