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Good morning.

Looking at the Oscar nominations out this week I’m pleased but unsurprised to see that the war film, 1917, has made it onto the list for Best Film.

My husband and I went to see it on Monday and it has affected me more than other war films I’ve seen.

I think part of that is because I sat watching it as a Mum of boys who are now the age of many of those young men who went to fight in World War 1.

Although the film is not based on one true story, it’s made realistic and powerful by many true stories weaved together, mainly told to Director Sam Mendes by his grandfather who was there.

I think it’s so important that we tell these stories, that we keep the memory alive, we owe that to those who went through so much hardship in those trenches.

Film and other art forms have always been a powerful way of opening us up to topics and times we otherwise wouldn’t know about.

I went to Auschwitz Concentration Camp last year and when I came back I watched, among other things, The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas. I have since read that at the time it came out, some people were unhappy with the way it was made, saying it was unrealistic, that it had not done justice to the gravity of what went on.

I can see why some would say that but my children have watched that film at school alongside reading the book. To be able to show a film in school and connect our children to the horrors of those times is, I believe, crucial. If a film can be made in such a way to be able to do that and in a way that is acceptable to show it in school, it does make an important contribution.

I grew up learning very little about the Holocaust and unfortunately that is the case for many people. One third of the 7000 Europeans who took part in a recent ComRes poll admitted they knew little or nothing about the Holocaust.

In Islamic teachings there is a beautiful concept called ‘sadaqa jariya’, sometimes known as ‘the gift that keeps on giving’. Sadaqa is defined as ‘charity’ so this would be something you do that will benefit others even when you are no longer around.

I can’t help feeling that in its own way, that is what these Directors can do when they make these powerful films. At their best, they might remind us of the past and perhaps teach us in such a way that we feel compelled to pass on what we have learned – or challenge us in ways we were not expecting.

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