Powerful Films Equal Broken Heart

As excited as I was to come to Sundance, I knew it would also be a time of intense emotions and discussions. Today was no exception. Rikki, Josh, Jonathan, and I went to 4 intense movies today, all right after the other. The films had themes of PTSD, abortion, war, and end of the world and all need to be thought about and processed through.

The first movie we saw was Dry Land, which was about a soldier returning from war, adjusting to home life, and dealing with PTSD. It was a very intense movie and required a lot of emotional strength to watch it. The movie showed the guilt and stress soldiers can feel after going to war and how they deal with it, which usually was drinking. It definitely took the audience on an emotional journey and kicked us in the gut and stomped on our hearts. The director, on the left side of the picture with the main two actors on the right, made this movie to help soldiers in their readjustment period back home and to know that it's ok to ask for help. He said even though it's a dark movie, it's meant to inspire hope, which it did, but only after our hearts were mutilated.

The next movie, 12th & Delaware, did not help our emotions whatsoever. It was a movie about the conflict of an abortion clinic and a pregnancy resource center on opposing sides of the streets of 12th and Delaware. The directors merely wanted to be a fly on the wall and they fulfilled their goal with representing both sides. Within the first two minutes of the film I was fighting the tears because it was so sad to see these girls walk into the abortion clinic knowing what they wanted done. I don't have a picture of the directors, but they will be coming to our class either tomorrow or the next day to discuss the film further. It was just a very hard film to watch and once again my heart was ripped out. Here's a picture I took of the ticket while waiting in line today.

The third film was called Restrepo, which is about the film directors spending a total of 15 months with a platoon in the Korengal Valley in the middle east and just seeing what happens. They wanted an authentic picture of army life and that is precisely what they got. They interviewed multiple soldiers about their experiences and you could just tell it was hard to talk about and you could see the emotional stress they have and the burden they have carried. After a few comrades from another post died, the platoon's captain said, "I want you guys to mourn and then I want you to move on and do your job." This is the approach they need to take in order to survive, but to see grown, strong, Army men break down in tears after one of their own dies, is heart wrenching, to say the least. They did a great job with the film, but the story is just so powerful.

The last film was called Obselidia, which can be found in a previous entry here. After the 3 incredibly powerful films throughout the day, I was exhausted and may have fallen asleep for 95% of the movie. And I may have been sitting in front of the filmmakers. Oops. The team had mixed feelings about the movie, but the main consensus was that the idea of appreciating what we have now, is extremely important. Most thought it was long winded and boring (which is part of the reason as to why I fell asleep), but there were a couple who genuinely liked it. The center two in the picture are the lead actor and actress. From what I hear, they did an ok job. In my moments of consciousness, I was able to fully appreciate the musical score added to the film, which, in retrospect, may have further induced my sleepiness.

After the films we went to Flippin' Burgers for dinner, which was very good. We had discussions about our various positions on abortion and whatever other topics came up relating to the films we saw. Tomorrow won't be as intense so hopefully we'll be able to catch our breath and repair our hearts.