Educational Media Reviews Online

In this moving video, two grandmothers talk about their long and interesting lives. Presented as a gift to their young grandson, their stories will probably be best understood and appreciated by him when he is older, thus adults are the ideal audience for this film.

While most any set of grandparents could present such a history to their grandchildren, these two grandmothers have had some interesting experiences and bring a multicultural perspective to their story. Maternal grandmother Rosemary Brown was born in Jamaica, came to Canada to attend McGill University, and eventually became involved in politics. In 1972 she became the first black woman elected to the Canadian legislature, where she served for 14 years. Paternal grandmother Ruth Horricks-Sujir traveled to India as a young woman and met her husband there. Returning to Canada, Ruth was widowed early, then went back to school and became a teacher.

Edited to alternate back and forth between the two women's stories, the video captures their heartfelt emotion and memories. Through their words and through photos of the women and their relatives, they journey and the audience follows. Both visit the places of their youth and reminisce as they talk about boarding school, a grandmother's house, a family home. Beautiful shots of people, buildings, and flowers contribute to the local color of the story.

Rosemary's pride in her Jamaican background and public service comes through clearly. Her visit to Senegal and a slave holding compound is an emotional apex of the film. Ruth's marriage to a Hindu Brahmin and life in India, not common occurrences for a Canadian woman in the 1950's, are full of romance and adventure.

The quality of both the audio and video are excellent. The story flows smoothly as it follows one woman, then the other, throughout their lives. At the end, the two women are filmed together at a picnic, which shows their connection in love and family. The film closes with each one of them talking to grandson Jackson directly.

As a human interest story, this video would well serve a public library video collection. It could also be used in college classes for women's studies or multicultural studies.