When the history honorary Phi Alpha Theta screens a movie for the student body, usually an interested professor chooses and introduces the film.
On April 11, the director of the PBS documentary himself will be in attendance to speak about the film, following an introduction by Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn.
Michael Pack’s “Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton” will screen at 6:30 p.m. in Lane 124 after an introduction by Pack, who is also the director of multiple Hillsdale movies.
He is currently in the editing process of a donor movie that was filmed on campus last semester. He is visiting Hillsdale with his son, a prospective student from Chevy Chase, Md.
Senior Richard Norris, president of Phi Alpha Theta, said that in addition to the excitement of having a real director present at the film’s viewing, Hamilton’s legacy is an important one for students to appreciate.
“Learning about Hamilton gives one a more fully developed understanding of the Founding and of American politics in the early years of the republic,” Norris said. “He and Jefferson had very different desires for what the country ought to become. Jefferson wanted the United States to be a rural, agrarian society of farmers, while Hamilton wanted a commercial society wherein the city was the locus of power and attention.”
Pack and writer-host Richard Brookhiser “re-invent the documentary biopic” in the same fashion as Pack’s 2002 film, “Rediscovering George Washington,” according to a news release.
The film explores “all the themes that shaped Hamilton’s life, led him to his early death, and helped him make modern capitalist America,” the news release stated.
A question and answer session and light refreshments will follow the screening.
-Morgan Delp
