This is our high decide of flicks with unbelievable worldwide settings and diversified cultural narratives that your youngsters can study in regards to the world from (and which is able to maintain them quiet for fairly a while…). The listing is split into tough order of age-appropriateness – though we would argue that each movie is interesting to adults, too.
AGE 5 AND UP
Coco
Location: Mexico
Pixar’s triumphs should not casually gained, and the trouble that goes into the studio’s pitch-perfect characterisation may also be seen in its creation of areas. Sure, it’s animation, however, like Ratatouille’s Paris, the Mexico depicted within the pleasant story of little Miguel’s go to to the underworld is commonly identifiable. Mexico Metropolis’s Gran Lodge and Palacio de Correos (the historic primary post-office constructing) impressed the passing factors between the lifeless and residing, whereas the underworld bears an uncanny resemblance to the city of Guanajuato, with its scattered ruins clearly based mostly on the stepped pyramids of the Toltecs.
Academic worth: classes on household values and being your self, plus – when youngsters uncover that locations reminiscent of this truly exist – the wonders of journey
**Appropriate for:**ages 5-10
The best way to watch: Streaming on Disney+
Swiss Household Robinson
Location: Caribbean
One among George Lucas’s favorite movies and an enormous affect on Star Wars, this traditional 1960 Disney adaptation of the story of a shipwrecked household was filmed on the Caribbean island of Tobago. The treehouse was positioned in a 200ft samaan tree close to Goldsborough Bay, whereas the primary seashore seen is tiny Richmond Bay, simply alongside the coast, near Belle Backyard Bay, used for the shipwreck touchdown. Pirates assault at Mount Irvine Bay on the west coast, near Pigeon Level, the venue for the swamp the place two of the boys are attacked by a 28ft anaconda – for which, amazingly, an actual snake was used.
Academic worth: whereas it’s actually a rollicking journey, it would spark curiosity in youthful viewers
Appropriate for: ages 6-11
The best way to watch: Streaming on Disney+ and obtainable to hire on Amazon Prime
The Sound of Music
Location: Austria
Together with the dangerously catchy tunes from Rodgers and Hammerstein, this 1965 traditional stands aside from different musicals with its gripping true story and surroundings shot primarily on location. We’re round Salzburg in Austria, the place the mountains and lakes are complemented by the picturesque city, together with the Mirabell Gardens with the flight of steps seen within the immortal ‘Do-Re-Mi’ sequence. The convent the place we first meet Maria (Julie Andrews) is the actual factor, Nonnberg Abbey, whereas the Von Trapp home the place she goes to work as a governess is a pair of castles: Schloss Frohnburg, now a music college, and Schloss Leopoldskron’s terrace and gazebo. The well-known hills, in the meantime, are close to the village of Marktschellenberg in Germany’s Bavaria.
**Academic worth:**in addition to music and (puppet-show) drama, it offers a agency however mild introduction to the fact of conflict
**Appropriate for:**ages 6-13
**The best way to watch:**Streaming on Disney+ and obtainable to hire on Amazon Prime
AGE 8 AND UP
Across the World in 80 Days
Location: all world wide
This 2004 remake of the Jules Verne novel makes loads of adjustments – not least turning Passepartout (Jackie Chan), valet to Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan), into a world thief – however there’s nonetheless loads of world to see right here. The pair’s whistlestop tour was filmed throughout the globe, although some trickery was concerned: whereas Thailand, China and the UK had been the actual factor, Nineteenth-century Paris and New York had been recreated in Germany, together with the absurdly picturesque city of Görlitz, seen in The Grand Budapest Lodge and The Reader, amongst different movies. The charming however slower-paced 1956 model, with David Niven as Fogg, is accessible to hire from Amazon.
**Academic worth:**geography and historical past in abundance – although maybe extra as inspiration than fact-finding
**Appropriate for:**ages 8–13
**The best way to watch:**Streaming on Netflix and obtainable to hire on Amazon Prime
Queen of Katwe
Location: South Africa
This 2016 movie directed by Mira Nair (monitor down her superb Indian-set debut, Salaam**Bombay!, too) relies on the true story of Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga), a chess prodigy within the Queen’s Gambit mould. Although the chess matches and an epic flood scene had been filmed in Pretoria, South Africa, a lot of the motion was shot in Mutesi’s residence city of Katwe, a desperately poor neighbourhood in Kampala, Uganda, with locals appearing as extras alongside stars David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o.
Academic worth: in addition to constructing consciousness of the realities of African life, it could properly encourage a chess prodigy in your individual residence
**Appropriate for:**ages 8–14
**The best way to watch:**Streaming on Disney+ and obtainable to hire on Amazon Prime
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Location: Malawi
When dangerous climate and tobacco companies finish his father’s farming job in Wimbe, east of Kasungu in Malawi, 13-year-old William Kamkwamba (Maxwell Simba) makes use of his love of mechanics and an previous library e book to discover a answer. This inspiring true story, tailored in 2019 from William’s personal e book by Chiwetel Ejiofor, was filmed in Wimbe itself, utilizing his college and the home subsequent door to the one the place he grew up. Whereas the realities of village life are intense, there are panoramas of giant skies and empty vistas too.
**Academic worth:**the facility of science, the worth of training, geography – and the power of the human spirit
Appropriate for: ages 8–14 (although be warned: many of the dialogue is in Chichewa, with English subtitles)
The best way to watch: Streaming on Netflix
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Location: New Zealand
This glorious journey, guided by the positive hand of director Taika Waititi, follows troubled orphan Ricky (Julian Dennison) and reluctant foster father Hec (Sam Neill) by way of a few of New Zealand’s most spectacular surroundings. Nearly wholly shot outside, it used Auckland and surrounding cities for the pair’s brushes with civilisation and located Hec’s distant farmhouse in Puhoi, on the north-east of the North Island. Many of the motion, although, takes place deep within the bush of the Waitakere Ranges, west of Auckland, and among the many snow-capped peaks of the volcanic Central Plateau.
**Academic worth:**except for necessary classes in regards to the worth of household and kindness, you’ll be able to at all times comply with the instance of actor Dennison’s mom, who sparked discussions on geology and local weather throughout his set breaks
Appropriate for: ages 9–97
**The best way to watch:**Accessible to hire on Amazon Prime
TEENS
William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet
Location: Miami
Modernisations of Shakespeare are so typically excruciating, however Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 of the star-crossed lovers is enjoyable, witty and a pleasure to behold. Set in a glammed-up gangsta model of Miami, it was in actual fact filmed in Mexico Metropolis. The Capulets’ house is Chapultepec Fort, website of the Nationwide Museum; Mercutio provokes a combat on the seashore at Veracruz resort Boca del Río; and the tragic finish takes place within the modernist Purísimo Corazón de María church in close by Benito Juárez. All this plus a pointy Nineties pop soundtrack and Leonardo DiCaprio.
**Academic worth:**will enthuse probably the most reluctant of scholars, whether or not they’re learning it or not
Appropriate for: ages 13-16
**The best way to watch:**Streaming on Amazon Prime
Selma
Location: Alabama
David Oyelowo (see additionally Queen of Katwe) makes for a suitably mesmerising Martin Luther King Jr on this 2014 account of the civil-rights chief’s marketing campaign for black suffrage in Alabama. Most of it was truly shot in Georgia, with Covington (residence to TV’s The Vampire Diaries) standing in for the city of Selma: we see King arrive within the city sq. and examine right into a resort that’s actually the Newton County Courthouse, whereas the chapel is Rutledge Baptist Church close by. Nevertheless, the protest marches comply with the information, crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River and ending on the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery.
**Academic worth:**best for A-level politics and historical past college students, however equally invaluable for elevating consciousness of a pivotal interval of the fashionable age
Appropriate for: ages 14-21
The best way to watch: Streaming on Netflix
Stand by Me
Location: USA
This 1986 boys-own coming-of-age story is wealthy in thrills, humour and life classes for teenagers. Set within the fictional city of Fort Rock, it was filmed within the American state of Oregon, based mostly in Brownsville. Many of the properties and outlets are across the city’s North Fundamental Avenue, together with the pool corridor and diner. The railtrack the place Gordie (Wil Wheaton) and his pals got down to discover a legendary lifeless physique is a number of miles south on Cottage Grove, although the memorable scene the place they dodge a practice on a bridge over a terrific drop is in actual fact in California, in Shasta-Trinity Nationwide Forest.
**Academic worth:**depicts tons about friendship, being your self and dealing with fears, plus loads of inspiration for budding storytellers reminiscent of Gordie
**Appropriate for:**initially a 15 certificates, however 14 and up will get pleasure from it
**The best way to watch:**Accessible to hire from Amazon Prime
Whale Rider
Location: New Zealand
Drawing on the ancestral myths of the Maori folks, this 2002 fable was based mostly on Witi Ihimaera’s bestseller about 12-year-old Pai (Keisha Fort-Hughes) who needs to develop into the primary feminine chief of her tribe. True to the supply, the movie was shot in Whangara, a small city on the north-east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Overcoming the issue of recording towards the backdrop of heavy surf, the crew captured the essence of a small conventional settlement and, although whales actually function, it’s as a lot in regards to the folks, their lifestyle and their relationship with nature.
**Academic worth:**in addition to a optimistic message for girls, there are pure sciences, myths and legends, and a dose of anthropology
Appropriate for: ages 13-16
**The best way to watch:**Streaming on Amazon Prime
Satisfaction & Prejudice
Location: England
Whereas there’s no scarcity of Jane Austen diversifications to select from, this 2005 instance of a present GCSE textual content could also be the most suitable choice for convincing the baffled (with 2020’s Emma, not but streaming in early 2021, shut behind). It additionally affords a tour of among the UK’s stately properties, with Derbyshire’s Chatsworth Home main the operating as Pemberley, residence to Mr Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), and Lincolnshire’s Burghley Home as Rosings Park, denizen of the formidable Girl Catherine (Judi Dench). Whereas Lizzie Bennet (Keira Knightley) and household are within the slightly extra modest Groombridge Place in Kent, a mere manor home, we additionally see our heroine in grander environment, together with the rocky hills near Chatsworth within the Peak District.
Academic worth: wit, knowledge and wonder sufficient to transform anybody to the relevance of traditional literature
**Appropriate for:**ages 13 and up
The best way to watch: Streaming on Netflix
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