Movie Day in middle school was always the best. Usually it was because our teacher was out

sick and we had a sub and so some bedraggled stranger would wheel in that crazy av cart at the 300 pound CRT TV, push a tape into the VCR, adjust the tracking,

and we were effectively taken care of for the next period so our sub could read magazines in peace.

There was an epic run for about a week where we would watch nothing but Ken Burns The Civil War.

I don't know what my teacher came down with. nothing but I'm Ken Burns the Civil War.

I don't know what my teacher came down with and I'm glad they made a full recovery, but I'm grateful.

Those are formative years to watch one of the best docs ever made.

What I'm saying is for a student of a certain age,

in a history class with a sick teacher,

a movie can be the very best vehicle for knowledge.

I remember a lot of those movies. And this happened quite a bit. If it wasn't

Ken Burns Civil War, it was Glory or Roots or a handful of other films that is straight up to the

line of needing a sign permission slip from your parents to come to class.

Those memories came flooding back to me the other day talking to a friend years younger than me and they mentioned that when their history teacher was out sick, the sub wheeled in that

AV cart and showed them the Patriot. A film that if all you ever knew about it was gleaned from

the box cover could conceivably be about the American

revolution fought with the aid of Mel Gibson's giant face hovering over the battlefield,

taking enemy Blunder bus fire,

and if you've actually watched the movie, you'd know that the film's actual story is just as fantastical.

The Patriot is about a lot of things, but is it about the revolutionary war?

Not really.

I'm not even a substitute history teacher, and I know that.

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