The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1999)

Sports stars often do more than win games and break records. Their fame can become a symbol of an underdog ethnic group's integration into the American mainstream. Everyone remembers the importance of base-ball's Jackie Robinson to African-Americans. The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is an Oscar-nominated, feature-length documentary about Robinson's Jewish-American equivalent.

“Hammerin’ Hank” was the son of immigrant parents from Romania who became a star slugger for the Detroit Tigers in the 1930s and '40s. Greenberg endured occasional ethnic slurs on the field and, during a crucial game on Yom Kippur, he chose to attend synagogue rather than play. Director Aviva Kempner successfully combines archival sports footage with interviews with former team-mates, baseball greats, broadcasters, sportswriters and family members. The result is a nice balance between Greenberg's achievements on the diamond, his personal life and the larger sociological context. Actor Walter Matthau and superlawyer Alan Dershowitz testify as to how the home-run hitter inspired them. Even viewers who aren't baseball fans will find the movie a treat.

Fly Away Home (1996)

Young children are almost always devastated by the death of their mother. Fly Away Home, based on Bill Lishman's real-life memoir, shows us how this loss can also transform the life of the surviving parent as well. The 13-year-old Amy Alden (Anna Paquin) has never had much of a relationship with her eccentric inventor father, Thomas (Jeff Daniels). When her mother is killed in an auto accident, she feels no emotional support from him and retreats into her own solitary world.

The discovery of some goose eggs in a marsh near her home changes everything. After they hatch, she carefully nurtures the goslings' growth and recovers her love of life.

Amy's father has the scientific knowledge to help teach the geese how to migrate South for the winter, and he slowly develops a close bond with his daughter as they work together on this project.