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One of the least things I can do
Jan. 5th, 2009 11:15 pmI just got finished watching Dear Zachary: A Letter to a son about his father. It aired on MSNBC last night and is in theaters around the country (check the link for info). I'm not sure how much to say about it because I feel like anything I say will give too much weight to some aspects and not enough to others.
If you poke around on the website you'll find out all the details about the film. Including spoilers, if documentaries can be considered to have spoilers. Which some of you may want to read in order to decide if you can see it. But others might not want that information because without it you get to experience many of the events as the filmmaker did.
The shortest summary is that Andrew, a close friend of the filmmaker's, died, and the filmmaker (Kurt) decided to make this movie as a way of honoring his friend. Then he found out that his friend had a son, so he decided to make the movie for the son, Zachary, so that Zachary would have something to know his father by. I'd say that information gets you to about the halfway point of the film, and after that are a lot of events that unfolded while Kurt was still making the documentary.
This is a hard movie. It's not the best documentary ever created, but at the same time its weaknesses are its strengths. It's not a polished film, it's a deeply personal memorial. You watch it and you feel like you know these people. These are people who are going through horrible events that no one should ever have to go through. Watching it you are going to be devistated. I personally feel like I got kicked in the gut. I still haven't stopped crying.
But at the same time - it's a story that needs to be told. It needs to be known. By the end of it I think you'll understand why you needed to be told about Andrew, and Zachary, and Andrew's parents. And part of it is that the only way the dead can live on is through memories, so by watching this we increase the amount of memories out there. And part is that even as you're there, probably crying yourself hoarse and feeling sick to your stomach, you see the absolute best in humanity and that needs witnessing and remembering too.
I want to own this movie at the same time that I feel like I couldn't possibly ever watch it again. And this all goes back to that feeling of how this must be known. A part of this story needs to live in as many people as possible.
So I'm doing my bit to honor that part by telling all of you about it. It's not easy and those of you who are parents and/or are sensitive to the idea of parents suffering the loss of their children should probably go to the website and get the full story so that you can decide if the movie wll be too triggery for you. But if you can watch it, do. For all of Andrew's family.
If you poke around on the website you'll find out all the details about the film. Including spoilers, if documentaries can be considered to have spoilers. Which some of you may want to read in order to decide if you can see it. But others might not want that information because without it you get to experience many of the events as the filmmaker did.
The shortest summary is that Andrew, a close friend of the filmmaker's, died, and the filmmaker (Kurt) decided to make this movie as a way of honoring his friend. Then he found out that his friend had a son, so he decided to make the movie for the son, Zachary, so that Zachary would have something to know his father by. I'd say that information gets you to about the halfway point of the film, and after that are a lot of events that unfolded while Kurt was still making the documentary.
This is a hard movie. It's not the best documentary ever created, but at the same time its weaknesses are its strengths. It's not a polished film, it's a deeply personal memorial. You watch it and you feel like you know these people. These are people who are going through horrible events that no one should ever have to go through. Watching it you are going to be devistated. I personally feel like I got kicked in the gut. I still haven't stopped crying.
But at the same time - it's a story that needs to be told. It needs to be known. By the end of it I think you'll understand why you needed to be told about Andrew, and Zachary, and Andrew's parents. And part of it is that the only way the dead can live on is through memories, so by watching this we increase the amount of memories out there. And part is that even as you're there, probably crying yourself hoarse and feeling sick to your stomach, you see the absolute best in humanity and that needs witnessing and remembering too.
I want to own this movie at the same time that I feel like I couldn't possibly ever watch it again. And this all goes back to that feeling of how this must be known. A part of this story needs to live in as many people as possible.
So I'm doing my bit to honor that part by telling all of you about it. It's not easy and those of you who are parents and/or are sensitive to the idea of parents suffering the loss of their children should probably go to the website and get the full story so that you can decide if the movie wll be too triggery for you. But if you can watch it, do. For all of Andrew's family.
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