Summery of movie "Englishman who Went Up a Hill But Came Down A Mountain"

1. SUMMARY OF THE MOVIE
SUMMARY: An English cartographer arrives in a Welsh village to settle the issue of the
neighboringhill.Tothe disappointment of the village, he announcesthat its height does not
justify the mappingof the moundasa mountainbutas a hill.The villagers, however, do not
want to accept this and are preparing to lift the measures themselves.
Director, Actors, release year:
 English movie directed by Ch. Mongker.
 Starring: Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, Kolm Meaney.
 Released in 1995.
Full analysis: The fully comical approach of an epic story knitted with mathematics. In
Wales, because of the fact that many people had got the same name, each one was
distinguishedby somethingdescribinghim, e.g.hisprofession.But,whowasthe Englishman
whowentup a hill butcame downa mountain? InEngland, a mound is deemed a mountain
if its heightisgreaterthan305m. Thisis notthe case everywhere,e.g.itismentionedthatin
the Himalayas a mound of height 3000m may still be called a hill. The measurement of a
moundisdone with a particular method, with mathematics and mathematics is something
objective. For the measurement of the height of Fynnon Garw, George Gerad and his
assistantAnsonusedthe alreadyknownheightsof Faru Newton mountain and Witcher hill,
the distance in-betweenandaninstrument. “And who measured the first two mountains?”
asked an inhabitant to receive the answer that God did so by the reverend of the
community. Anson announced the final measurement, Fynnon Garw had a height of 299m
and itwas a hill. The townlostall theyhad,the glamor that they had a mountain. They said,
“Egyptiansbuiltpyramids,Greekserectedtemples, here in Wales it wasn’t needed to build
anythingbecause we hadour mountains”. Their mountain became a hill, thus, it would not
have a place in the mapsof Englandanymore… But that was an ethical problem. How was it
possible forthemtolose amountainwhichprotected the townwhile other members of the
community were being challenged and fighting for all of them? The reverend called the
communityina convention; he asked them to make a request in order for the mountain to
remain as it was. The barman proposed to erect what was missing, namely 6 meters of
height.The “problematic” of the community who returned exhausted from war confirmed
that they have achieved analogous efforts. All the people took part in the tackling of the
problemandinthe way for itto be solved. Consequently, everyone, except only a teacher,
tried to build what was missing from a mountain. Anyone who gave up was asked by the
barman,“and will yoube the reasonwhywe failed?” Andtheysucceedwithpersistence and
throughdifficulties; theygave asolutiontoa simple mathematical problem,butmainlytoan
ethical problem of themselves. They increased the height of the mountain to 305.5m.
Snippets, scenes:
1. How is the measurement of a "Hill" made, with the knowledge of two already
measured "peaks", the in-between distances and using tools?
2. Empirical estimation, since by experience, the mound is calculated approximately
835 m in height, but it may be higher or smaller!

2. SUMMARY OF THE MOVIE
3. The empirical knowledge of mathematics that when building a mountain, as we
ascend in height, the circumference at the base and in the middle grows.
How understandable was the movie?Itis relativelyeasytounderstandthatmeasuringa
moundcan be calculatedfromthe knowledge of twootherknownheightsandthe distances
between them, as an idea, not detailed knowledge which was not given in the movie.
The film, through a lot of humor, makes the viewer identify with that community, where
residentsmay standoriginallyagainstthe unknown,buttheydonotfightit;instead, they go
further.Theyformulate questionstounderstand and thus realize their problem as a simple
math problem.
All membersof the community,fromthe smartest to the most problematic one, along with
the audience can understand mathematics.
How interesting was the movie? The film was interesting because of its humor and
because of its evolution.Alongsidemathematics,life,warand the lives of those who stayed
behindwere running.Andsothere were other kinds of considerations. It was nice to get to
know Wales. "It wasn't the height of this mountain that won our enemies," admitted the
inhabitants, but their rains! In the film, the particularity of this place was obvious, which
nevertheless can be an attractive place to live, like every place. Because, after all, many
things keep us in a place.
What mathematical knowledge did we gain? We learnedhow tocalculate the height of
a hill or a mountain. The objectivity of mathematics is undeniable. A problem should be
described clearly. In every problem there is a solution. To find the solution, experience, a
team’s brainstorming and work can help.
Where can we apply this knowledge? The mathematical knowledge whichemergesfrom
the film can be applied in our daily lives. It is not little for someone to try to name the
problem,basedon methodologyandtools,tothink,topromote teamwork,tofindsolutions.