Missing the Scene

Tenth grade world history. Their assignment: continuing watching the movie Swing Kids.

Natalie claimed the bean bag cat on the teacher's desk. She said she needed it. It was hers. While the request was a bit odd, it wasn't terribly out of the ordinary. And I didn't see the point in arguing.

The reason for the comfort stuffed animal soon became apparent.

In case you're not familiar with the movie (via IMDB):

A close-knit group of young kids in Nazi Germany listen to banned swing music from the U.S. Soon, dancing and fun lead to more difficult choices, as the Nazis begin tightening their grip on Germany. Each member of the group is forced to face some tough choices about right, wrong, and survival. Written by Susan Southall 

We got to a scene where some Nazi youths beat up one of our central characters. It's rather brutal. They pummel him and kick him when he's down. Repeatedly.

That's when I noticed Natalie. She was turned away from the screen, tossing the toy from hand to hand. Ah. It was too much for her.

I can relate. There's a point where certain scenes get to be too much for me. I've become a bit desensitized to a lot of what we see as normal on TV, but when I was younger, I had a lower threshold.

So, when her classmates were telling her it was okay to turn around when the beating was still happening... Not okay. Not nice at all.

I let her know when it was actually safe to turn around.

Some friends...