Films provide us with pleasure. They are shown in cinema halls. We go there to forget out worries. They have great educational value. They help us to know a lot about different countries and the people who live there. They show us their way of living, the places worth seeing, and the sights worth enjoying. They bring, before out eyes, the activities of great men, for bringing about peace in the world, and to pave the way for its progress.
They reveal to us the horrors of war. They exhibit the destruction done by floods, earthquakes, fire, windstorms and heavy rains. They show us the labourers, working in the mines; and the divers, going far deep into the sea, in search of pearls and other precious things. They enable us to see the bombers take off from the airports, to bombard enemy territory and the fighters, putting the enemy planes to fight and para-troops, jumping down, from great heights, to help their own forces in different ways.
The films help the government display its activities for rural uplift, national reconstruction and the prosperity of the country. They entertain us. hy showing to us, the matches, the wrestling bouts or rowing competitions, that are taking place, hundreds and even thousands of miles away. They present, before our eyes, the scenes of the Hajj, receptions of international personalities, the funerals of distinguished persons and celebrations around the tombs of the saints. In short, the film is a very useful invention of this age. It is a very useful means of information as well as recreation.
Films have some disadvantages too. If a person becomes very fond of these, he begins to go to the pictures very often. This means loss of money, loss of time and, in the long run, weakness of eye-sight. Films also affect the morals of the younger generation. Scenes of crime, robbery dacoity, picking pockets, fraud and kidnapping, and even murder tend to spoil the character of the youngsters and make thein criminal-minded. Films showing romantic scenes are also very harmful. Sometimes, they present songs, dances and dialogues that are too dirty to be seen, together by the two sexes. But it is not, perhaps, possible for parents to prevent their grown-up children from going to the picture. And they have, therefore, to endure, what they cannot cure.
