Thursday, December 29, 2011

'Forrest Gump,' 'Bambi' Added To National Film Registry

There are a lot of movies in the world, some of them even very good. It's a hard task keeping track of all of them, but that's what big government is for -- specifically, the Library of Congress's National Film Registry, which every year selects a list of films deemed worthy of preservation. For everyone but the most arduous cinephile, it's a mix between films known and films obscure, the stuff we'd like to tell our kids about assuming Western civilization doesn't collapse in the near future.

This year's list stuck to the script, as movies like "Forrest Gump" and "Bambi" were selected alongside lesser-known ones like "The Negro Soldier" and "The Cry of the Children."

There's a lot of art to be found in flicks like John Cassavetes's melodrama, "Faces," as well as action-packed titillation in Robert Rodriguez's "El Mariachi" and Jonathan Demme's "Silence of the Lambs." (Also, the movie where Commander Adama teaches math to inner city kids.)

If you're ever in Washington D.C., you can view most of the films named to the Registry in the Library of Congress's reading room, available by reservation. Eventually, they'll be put online, bringing the Library into the 21st century.

?Maximizing public access is one of the core concerns of the Library of Congress, because it?s the closest thing we have to a national patrimony of the creative arts,? Librarian of Congress James H. Billington told the Washington Post. ?This is a celebration of America, really, of creative America in all its variegated richness.?

That sounds about appropriate for such an esteemed institution. We hope they'll remember "Drive Angry" for next year's list!

Tell us what you think in the comments section and on Twitter!

Tags Bambi, Forrest Gump, Library of Congress, national film registry, Silence of the Lambs

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