The Samuel Project

This was a surprising type movie that I came across at Prime, and it was surprising Hal Linden was the grandfather. I didn't know that until the end of the movie. I guess I haven't seen him in anything since the 1980s. He looks totally different. :)

The film starts off with loud, obnoxious music. Turn it down, don't turn it off. You don't want to miss this movie if you are interested in the Holocaust and graphic arts. Also, some of the dialogue is hard to understand at times and some of the captions are wrong. A seriously bad caption job.

Eli obviously hasn't spent much time with his grandfather, and his father doesn't spend much time with Eli. His mother left when he was young and his grandmother died when he was young. Thus, this is a small family of males who don't communicate that well.

That changes, though, when Eli needs a topic for a media arts class project, and he discovers his Jewish grandfather's tragic childhood in Germany. The two become close, with Eli even working part-time in his grandfather's dry cleaning store.

It was interesting to see Eli's finished project at a showing of the top ten contenders in a media arts contest for high school kids. Both his father and grandfather show up for the event, too, when neither planned on going. No mushiness, but three males becoming a bit closer.