Paper Clips

Students at a middle school in Whitwell, Tenn., embark on a project to collect a paper clip for each person killed by Nazis during the Holocaust. Their project started small, but got the attention of celebrities and, most importantly, Holocaust survivors who expressed extreme gratitude for what the children were doing. This documentary is a bit self-congratulatory and staged at times, marred by manipulative music and moments that feel scripted. It’s pretty easy to get past those flaws when the survivors show up in Whitwell to tell their stories and thank the children for their efforts. In the end, the kids got 11 million paper clips and placed them within a rail car that was used to transport people to concentration camps. While the film itself isn’t very good, the message and intentions are admirable, and the stories shared by survivors are genuinely moving.