A Film for the Cold Climate

Once again, I find myself to be the odd man out.

When I think of this season, and the movies that have been inspired by it, I don’t think of romance per se, or even the great horror films of my 80s past. There is just too much of the whiff of pumpkin spice and dead leaves in those films to leave me feeling like I’d rather be out in the cold, walking alone in the too-early dark. No, the film that I think of when this season arrives, and I have to engage in a shift in my wardrobe to “sweater weather,” is a film that I usually end up watching in the spring to coincide with events on screen.

I am talking about the film “The Paper Chase”.

Yes, it is an odd choice for those of you who know it. For those of you who have not experienced this early-1970s classic, the story is as follows: a first-year law student at Harvard University clashes with one of the toughest professors on campus, right from the very first day of classes. He soon proves that he can handle himself, despite the earlier embarrassment, even finding a way to get through a romance with the same professor’s daughter, the attempted suicide of a classmate, and his own doubts about whether or not he should even be studying to become a lawyer. Perhaps there are a few spoilers there, but there is nothing mentioned above that could take away from your enjoyment of the movie, especially if you do have memories of late-night study sessions, exams that feel like the last hurdle towards a great career, and the vicissitudes of romance, ambition, intellect and time.

So, why does this one give me all of those warm and fuzzy feelings that many of you might feel from a Nora Ephron classic?

It is because I now make a point of watching it at the right time of the year.

I am now the teacher at a college, assigning students exams, papers and presentations during the semester. They are the ones who have to grow and become the people that they want to be as they move along in the world and discover that certain things cannot be learned in a classroom. They are the ones with the minds that need to be shaped and formed. As the professor in the film, Kingsfield (played with wonderful relish by John Houseman in an Academy-Award-winning performance) states early in the film:

“Questioning and answering…at times you may feel that you have found the correct answer. I assure you that this is a total delusion on your part. You will never find the correct, absolute and final answer. In my classroom, there is always another question, another question to follow your answer. Yes, you are on a treadmill… You teach yourself the law, but I train your mind. You come in here with a skull full of mush, and you leave thinking like a lawyer.”

This was said in the lecture hall where you can judge the reactions of all the students imbibing these fine words. I often wish that I had been the one to come up with that speech, and yes, I am very tempted to repeat this speech at the beginning of another session. I never have, of course.

Not yet.

My comfort comes from the fact that I have been able to introduce this to my students at the beginning of a season of change, darkness, and cold comfort.

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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