Shakleton's props

A wonderful film comes from A& E television and is simply called Shakleton. It stars Kenneth Branagh as Sir Shakleton on his journey to the south pole. I highly recommend it as a film which features a outstanding characteristics of a leader.

Now the props.

There is one point in the movie, in which Sir Shakleton tells his crew they must abandon their ship as it is ice-bound. The expedition will proceed on foot until it reaches the water. At this point, he tells the crew that they can only carry 2 lbs each of equipment including their journals.

Then he holds up a tray filled with all kinds of his personal belongings and turns the tray over, letting all his personal items fall onto the ice, making him the first person to let go of his extra baggage. He goes on to take a bible, given to the expedition by a member of the royal family, takes 3 pages from it as a remembrance, and then discards that also.

What a powerful message. He could have, as leader of the expedtion, simply given the orders to the crew. But by using the real items or props in a live demonstration, he makes the point so much more effectively.

Movies offer us all kinds of teachable moments. This one jumped out at me because of the props. Do you have any favourite movies for making key learning points?

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