Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as Ben Carson, the world renowned neurosurgeon, in this biopic from 2009. The film is not rated but would probably warrant a PG for for violence and some language. Ben Carson worked on controlling his temper and with his religious convictions overcame his outbursts. With the support of his mother he overcame his beliefs that he was dumb. He went on to Johns Hopkins and became one the most famous brain surgeons of our time.
In the film his mother eventually realized the hold and constraints that the tv viewing had on her boys. She limited the tv that he and his brother could watch to two tv programs a week. When they asked what they would do with the rest of their time she told them she wanted them to read two books a week and to give a report on each book.
Carson went on to study music and art in addition to reading numerous books. I though this was an excellent example of how to balance reading and tv to some extent. One of the shows they watched both before and after the tv restrictions was a quiz game show. At first they didn't know the answers back when they watched tv everyday. They started handily answering the questions during the nights that they did watch the quiz show after the switch to more reading time. Thank you to one of my aunts for suggesting this wonderful movie!
