The children are our future. So how do they perceive our past?
In the documentary, The History Project, producers Daniel Ahrens and Jason Flood compiled a collection of video projects from both middle schoolers and high schoolers depicting the events that shaped our nation’s history. The result is an amusing, revealing, often bizarre and surprisingly touching portrait of how these youngsters see the country as it was built. The project is told in chronological fashion to how the events happened in our nation’s history. Therefore, the video projects will jump from broadly comedic to surprisingly sincere. But through it all, thanks to the careful editing from Ahrens, the project tells a linear —but far from singular —story of how we look at the United States.
Now, full disclosure, I know both Daniel Ahrens and Jason Flood. I went to college with them, and they are my friends. Nevertheless, the film itself is one I’d still recommend. It never looks at the videos themselves with ironic disdain. There is a clear affection for how these young videographers use their wits, pop culture knowledge and their own backyards to recreate and reflect on the nation we celebrate on the Fourth of July. It is with that in mind that The History Project remains a comical, but compassionate, look at the past, the present and the future, and how we look back to reflect on what’s ahead.
The movie is currently on YouTube in its entirety. If you have some free time this holiday weekend, I would recommend watching The History Project. Watch it at the link below.
