The best film I have ever seen
such an intense film that touched
One of the best films I have seen
is “Atonement” which opens in
England in 1935, when war was a
threatening reality for most of the
Englishmen. “Atonement” depicts
an impressive love story that
evolves through the appalling
events of the Second World War,
when life and death were a matter
of seconds, and that manages to
triumph beautifully in the end. The
movie has captured my attention
through its interesting plot, as well
as through the unexpected ending
and the amazing acting skills of
the lead- Keira Knightly.
First of all, the plot of the film is
utterly engaging, dominated by
flash backs and entangled events
which make us stay focused
through the whole time it is
running. It tells the story of Briony
Tallis's terrible mistake and how it
changes her, Cecilia Tallis's and
Robbie Turner's lives forever, and
consequentially her effort to find
atonement When Briony Tallis, a13
year old girl and an aspiring writer,
misinterprets a series of events
she witnesses and therefore
acuses Robbie, on no fair basis, of
a crime he never committed.
Trialed and convicted, Robbie is
sent to prison. Although Robbie
and Cecilia pledge their love for
one another at last, their lives are
instantly torn apart. Four years
later he is released into the British
army and makes up part of the
British Expeditionary Force that is
sent to northern France in an
attempt to halt the Nazi advance
and Briony will spend the
remainder of her lifetime, as a
young adult and an elderly woman
trying to repair her foolish
mistakes. The scenes are
generally very intense and full of
action, mixing the passion of love
with the mad passion of war. This,
I believe, makes the film merely
interesting with a wonderfully
organized plot.
Second of all, the ending of the
film is unexpected, but very
beautiful and profound. It shows
the old Briony participating in a TV
show about her latest book,
“Atonement”, which she admits to
be a novel she started a while ago,
but couldn’t find the right words to
finish it. Suffering from a terrible
sickness, Briony has decided to
publish the story of Robbie and
Cecilia, considering it a way to ask
for forgiveness. This is how we find
out that both Cecilia and Robbie
have died during the war, never
managing to live together the life
they have always wanted for
themselves. Still, in her book,
Briony spares their lives and gives
them the opportunity to be
together and be happy. I consider
this to be a wonderful ending to percent, school violence by fifty-
one percent, and vandalism to the
me and marked me for the rest of school dropped eighteen percent.
my life. (US Dept. of Ed., 1996) Uniforms
Also, I was very impressed by will also make it easier for
Keira Knightley’s magnificent trespassers to be identified. (Ryan
acting skills in the main lead. She & Cooper, 2000) These
plays Cecilia beautifully and
trespassers will stick out like a
passionately, making you to fall in
soar thumb because they will not
love with her aristocratic manners
have on a uniform like everyone
and her intelligence. I think she's a
brilliantly drawn character. Not else. Identifying and properly
particularly nice when you first escorting the trespassers to where
meet her at the start of the film, the need to be will ensure parents
but I thought there was incredible that the school is a safe and
humanity to her, and multiple secure place for their kids to get
layers to her. She is redeemed by an education.
love, by the sacrifice and by Second, school uniforms helps to
walking away from the family and eliminate socio-economical
this makes her beautiful. barriers. Many students come from
All in all, “Atonement” is about diverse backgrounds; however,
the precariousness of life and the inside the walls of the school,
need to cherish everyday economic advantages and
happiness. For as much as we like
disadvantages are no longer
to think that we are masters of our
obvious. (R, 2000) Parents’
own fate, we are born on the
incomes no longer determine how
winds of caprice and chance more
well his or her son or daughter
than we ever wish to admit, and a
dresses the next day at school.
single, seemingly random event
Uniforms help to erase the tense
can spin our lives off in an
cultural and economic differences
unexpected and often tragic
among the students. Not only do
direction.
students and teachers benefit
The Advantage of School from the wearing of uniforms, but
Uniforms parents do as well. Parents are no
longer pressured to buy the latest
fashions; therefore they spend less
money on clothes and fashionable
Did you know that as many as
apparel.
twenty-five percent of the nation’s
Third, school uniforms help to
pubic elementary, middle, and
promote structure and discipline
junior high schools have
inside of the classroom. This
successfully implemented a school
structure creates a strong learning
uniform policy? (Isaacson, 1998)
environment and improves the
School uniforms greatly benefit
students’ behavior and attitude
both the students and faculty by
towards schooling. In 1998 a study
creating an atmosphere in which
done by The National Association
the students are able to get the
of Elementary School Principals
most out of their education. I
and Land’s End discovered that
believe that all students should
schools with an active uniform
wear school uniforms regardless of
policy had almost a twenty
whether or not the school is
percent better discipline rate than
public. Below are clear-cut
that of a non-active uniform policy.
arguments in favor of school
Studies also showed that student
uniforms.
achievement was increased by ten
First, one of the chief benefits of
percent. (NAESP, 1998) Because of
school uniforms is their ability to
the learning atmosphere created
make schools safer. Studies have
by uniforms, students are more
shown that they help to reduce
likely to concentrate on their
gang influences. (Isaacson, 1998)
schoolwork and strive for great
Many gang members wear
grades.
particular types of colors and
Over the many years of this
clothes to signify their
ongoing debate there has only
membership to a certain gang.
been one case in which the state
With every student wearing the
lost the courtroom ruling, which
same articles of clothing, gang
was the case of Tinker vs. Des
members will not be able to
Moines Independent School
establish a rivalry within the
District. In 1965, Des Moines
school. Uniforms also minimize
schools suspended two teenagers
violence by reducing some sources
for wearing black armbands to
of conflict. A Long Beach
protest the war in Vietnam. This
Superintendent stated the first
case went all the way to the
year that the uniforms had been
Supreme Court. The Court ruled
implemented into his school,
that in public schools, which are
crimes decreased by thirty-six
run by the government, students
are not to “shed their
constitutional rights to freedom of
speech or expression at the
schoolhouse gate.” It said that
schools could only limit students’
freedom of expression if their
writings or behaviors were
disruptive to the functioning of
school or if it invades the rights of
others. (NAESP, 1998) It is evident
that in many schools across the
nation the types of clothes that
kids wear to school are disruptive
to the functioning of school.
Therefore, the schools are not
infringing on the Fourteenth
Amendment, and do have the right
to implement their own policy as
long as it is in reason.
In conclusion, we should have
school uniforms because overall
they help to make school a better
place. Uniforms help to eliminate
economical barriers, help to
reduce violence in the schools,
and help in raising students’
academic achievement. What
more could an educator ask for? I
have stated many of the benefits
that uniforms have on students
and the school as a whole. The
results of school uniforms are
crystal clear, and our
administration and educators
would be foolish not implementing
them into our school system.
center, and the viewer as the
worm …
Some say it is part of the Romantic
movement and some say it is part
of the Realist movement, and still,
others claim it is part of both
movements. Gray Line with
Lavender and Yellow helped break
the idea that art had to be a
painting of something. At a first
glance everything looks real. To
create shadows, the artist used
different types of wood. The
painting contains aspects
conveyed by the mannerist period.
The scene this work depicts has all
aspects of learning portrayed;
religion, science, music, and
literature. This painting is very
small in size like many of the
paintings done during this time.
Rembrandt looks worn out, tired,
and very unhappy. The young man
is holding a book, which leads the
viewer to make the assumption
that he his very learned. Also, the
size of this painting is
unbelievable. The bright colors,
details, size of the alter-piece, and
what we now recognize as halos
on the angels make this work a
typical Raphael. All of his paintings
in the museum portray this
darkness.

Art History Museum paper

As a student of art history, going
to a museum is the only way to
fully experience a work of art. By
only looking at a painting or
sculpture in a book or on a slide,
you cannot fully experience the
work of art. By going to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, I was
able to look at paintings that
dated from centuries old, to recent
times.Bruges, The Life and
Miracles of Saint Godelieve, 15th
Century, Tempera on woodThe
Proto-Renaissance alter piece, The
Life and Miracles of Saint
Godelieve was done by the artist
Bruges. This piece is very typical
of its time period. The title alone,
summarizes what art was in this
period, religious. The painting
itself is not proportionate, has no
vanishing point, and the saints
have a globe-like halo. All the
faces look the same, if you walked
down the street, you would not be
able to pick out an individual
model for this painting, because
there probably was no modeling
done.Raphael, Madonna and Child
Enthroned with Saints, 1504, oil on
woodThe Raphael alter-piece,
Madonna and Child Enthroned with
Saints, was painted in 1504. The
surface is very smooth, you cannot
see any brushstrokes. The figures
are placed in a pyramid shape,
with the Madonna's face as the