I.

Summary of the Film

I Am David foretells the life and adventures of a 12-year-old boy named David as he
escapes from an East European prison camp and makes an incredible personal
journey to freedom and manages to get through a dangerous border crossing into
Greece. Fleeing with only a compass, half a loaf of bread and sealed letter he must
carry across the continent, he cannot anticipate the dramatic journey that awaits
him. From stowage, away on a ship bound for Italy, he meets Roberto who keeps his
presence a secret. David, find it difficult to cross in the world outside the prison
walls, living in fear of imminent danger and trusting no one. He runs into some
trouble with a baker in a village and then saves a rich girl from a burning cabin. As
time pass by, he learned to face his fears of the dangers of the outside world until
the unexpected revelation of his true identity; especially the real essence and
meaning of trust, hope, joy and courage.

II. Synopsis (Theme)

As the narrative details his struggles to survive and retain his sense of individuality,
the narrative also explores issues relating to the nature and value of freedom
(especially freedom of oppression) and the power of faith.

III. Characterization
David - the main Character in the story was David. He is a twelve-year-old
boy. David's personality was a very confusing because he and through so
much in the concentration camp he was basically physically and emotionally
scarred for life but he acted like such a well-mannered young man in the
book. Physical description; In the book, it didn't give a clear vision or
description of what David looked like but I will refer to the movie: dark brown
hair, brown/green eyes, about 5.3ft, David did change throughout the story
 because in the beginning he was very conserved an barely showed any
emotion but towards the middle and end he showed a lot of mixed emotions.

Maria - Maria was a girl that David fell in love with. They met when David
saved her life in a fire. The fire started when Maria and her two younger
brothers were play Cowboys and Indians. She was a very polite and
generous girl. Physical description: long wavy brown hair, big brown eyes,
olive skin and a thick Italian accent.

Sophie was an old lady David met when she was painting. Sophie is a very
generous person because she didnt know David but she invited him into her
house.

T.M.T.S.N.B.N - this character is never named, but enables David to escape

from the camp, providing him with information as to when would be the right
time, an initial set of supplies. He was portrayed as a very bitter and nasty
soul. But he was also in love with David's mother, so he did treat David with
care.

Johannes is very generous and a good friend to David. They have met in
the concentration camp. Physical description: Black hair, brown eyes, nicely
shaved beard, glasses. He was a very good role model towards David; he
was basically his father.

Carlo he was Marias brother. Carlo and David didnt like each other at all.
This is because Carlo was always offensive towards David.

Roberto - the one who helps David in his journey and also guided him from
stowage of a boat boarding to Italy and tells David as much as he can until he
reach a land.

Marias parents A rich family; helps David by allowing him to stay in their
house because of saving their daughter Maria.

Baker in Italy Introduced St. Elizabeth to David thats why he learned to

have faith on what he believes in.
IV. Theory Applications
COORDINATED MANAGEMENT OF MEANING
The scenes where every time David see soldiers or a soap, he starts to
be afraid and get nervous and looks traumatized.
a. Under CMM is its communication perspective of that sees
communication as the objects of communication in the social world.
This perspective and the models of CMM are understood better in
the aspects of performance. One better example of this is the
Coherence which directs our attention to the stories that we tell
that make our lives meaningful. The construction of meaning is an
inherent part of what it means to be human, and the story is the
primary form of this process. With this in mind, CMM suggests that
we tell stories about many things, including our own individual and
collective identity and the world around us. There is always a
tension between the stories we tell to make the world coherent and
stories we live as we coordinate with other people. CMM focuses
on a powerful dynamic that accounts for the joys, frustrations,
surprises and tragedies of social life. Since David has bad
experiences with soldiers inside the prison walls, every time he
sees a soldier he, he taught of things that this soldier is like what
they have there in the prison walls who is a demon-like and kills
people without having mercy. In the soap, he always thinks of
Johannes, his friend who helped him to escape and just because
he stole a soap that do not belong to him which Johannes took the
responsibility with and got killed. Because of those experiences, he
created a self-meaning of the things he sees that is related on a
certain event/s of his life.

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
 The scene where Johannes was preparing himself to be killed by the
general when he took the responsibility of David who stole the soap.
Then the general or one of the soldiers who killed Johannes even
though he knows that David stole it as he sees it in his hands.
b. This theory states that human beings often have conflicting beliefs
with actions they take, or other beliefs they have. This dissonance
creates a tension and tension reduction is automatically sought by
changing our evaluations by some degree. Cognitive Dissonance
is when you have two good choices and you make your decision
then you find yourself unsure or in doubt about the choice you
made. You might have to downplay the other choice in order to
reassure yourself. Both of them knew that they are doing the wrong
thing but for Johannes and the General, they reassure themselves
that they did it to help David escape from the camp. And for the
General, aside from that fact, he helped David to escape by giving
instructions and giving the letter that will be the key to find his
mother so that he may think of that because he helped David at
least he can lessen the gravity of his deeds towards Johannes,
David and the other people living there. And as we can see, in the
end of the film he says sorry to David for what had happened to his
friend Johannes.

SOCIAL JUDGMENT THEORY

The scenes where David and Maria were walking in the garden and
they talked about Carlo and the different kinds of people you can meet
in the world outside of what Maria perceived the world is. In this
scene David shares that theres a lot people he do not like and tells
Maria that he had seen them doing evil things and that people are
terrible. Which opposes to what Maria believed.
c. This theory explains how individuals judge the messages they
receive. It predicts that individuals accept, or reject specific
attitudes and messages. Social Judgement theory has relative
 simplicity in that it is a fairly simple study. It can be tested and
proved false in that an individual can test the theory through
reflecting on statements, which evoke various opinions. Social
Judgement theory proposes the idea that persuasion is a two-step
process. The first step involves individuals hearing or reading a
message and immediately evaluating where the message falls
within their own position. The second step involves individuals
adjusting their particular attitude either toward or away from the
message they heard. Individuals have three zones in which they
accept or reject specific messages or attitudes. The latitude of
acceptance zone is where individuals place attitudes they consider
acceptable. The latitude of rejection zone is where individuals
place attitudes they consider unacceptable or objectionable. The
latitude of noncommitment is where people place attitudes they find
neither acceptable nor rejectable. In this case Maria was in the
latitude of non-commitment since she didnt know whether she
may believe in Davids statement since she was raised in a different
world and a different perspective but she knew that there some who
are bad and there are some who are also good.

UNCERTAINTY REDUCTION THEORY AND COMMUNICATION PRIVACY

MANAGEMENT

For URT, the scene where at first, it is obvious that David is not that
comfortable with Sophie and that he has a certain uncertainty because
f his trust issues with other people.
For CPM, the scene where David was telling to Sophie that she must
not tell anyone that he was with her and start being nervous and being
afraid and looks like being traumatized.
d. In URT, its main goal is to explain how communication is used to
reduce uncertainties between strangers engaging in their first
conversation together". In the lake where Sophie was painting
scenery and was about to paint David, he was hesitant to talk with
Sophie and when they start conversing, he starts to reduce his
uncertainty especially when Sophie tries to comfort him in times
that he is afraid of something or someone.
e. CPM was known as communication boundary management, is a
systematic research theory designed to develop an evidence-based
 understanding of the way people make decisions about revealing
and concealing private information. In that scene, as a co-owner of
the information, Sophie immediately helps David to find his mother
since David disclosed himself and his struggles to Sophie and
wants to see his mother whom he has longed for so many years.
V. Moral Lessons

By using what Sophie says to David, Just be happy if you want to be the person you
could be. If you want that to. And when David said that he just follows what his
friend told him no to trust anyone. Sophie easily replied with Life will not be worth
living if you will be like that David. You can be cautious but you have to let people in.
Lastly, when David ask how can he determine if a person is good or bad. Then
Sophie replied, David, most people are good. They have families and friends and
they want to live their lives as happily as they can. And there are always be bad
people in this world. But dont make that stop you living your life fully and freely and
making friends and seeing the goodness in people. Then you will find happiness.

In the film, we can see that David has always been afraid of what will happen next in
his life and he perceived people the same because ll his entire life, he was inside the
camp (in the prison wall). After escaping, we can see how he adjust to the new world
he has been. What Sophie said to him had an impact on his life, because as we can
see in the latter part of the film, David finally sees happy people, the good in them
and then he goes to the church, and sees a police officer, he greeted the police
officer and he did reply. It can connote that starting there, he will try to change his
perspective in people. A great example of this is the general in the camp, he may be
perceived by David as an evil person for killing Johannes, we can see at the end of
the film that he was the one who helped David to escape. So, we may conclude that
he had his good side as a person. I agree with Sophie because if we see the good
in others even though they are the evilest person we know, and if we will not mind
what others will judge us or whatever they will say to us as long as we are doing the
right thing and we are just being ourselves, there is nothing to be worried of or regret
to. And by living our life the way we want to live it as long as we can say that we are
enjoying the life to the fullest, we can say that our lives are worth living.
VI. Conclusion/Recommendation

I learned a lot from this film. It is really indeed a great film to watch, though at first I
thought it was boring but its not. I can see myself in Davids character. I always
control my actions because I always thought the judgment of others towards me.
And I myself couldnt say that I can do the things that basically makes me happy
because I always thinks of someone who monitors everything I do and focuses on
my mistakes and makes fun of me, mock at me or similar stuffs (this was based on
my experiences in the past which I still carry that experiences until now). But by
watching this film, I it help me to change my perspective little by little. I am gald that I
have watched this film since it helps me to come up with some realizations.