This is the time of the year for "Best of 2021" lists from a variety of sources, including former US President Barack Obama. Obama is eclectic and impressive in his choices for music, books, and movies. Isn't it strange that Donald Trump doesn't offer a similar list, although he comes up with a "Best Whines" list every year.
I read a fair number of both fiction and non-fiction books this year, and I'm here to say that I appear to have similar tastes with Barack (we chat regularly.) Ruth and I haven't seen a lot of films because we don't venture out to cinemas for pandemic reasons and we're too cheap to spend $20+ to rent a movie to watch at home.
I did see several good, newish films and the one which touched me deeply was Mass which I watched alone, at home, because of the offer of a preview before it was released -- thank you Movies and Meaning.
It is about the meeting between a couple whose son was murdered in a mass school shooting and the parents of the teen who killed him, along with a number of other innocent students. The shooter took his own life so there was no trial and conviction. The parents are together for the first time a couple of years after the terrible events. The setting is a church parlour which could be anywhere in North America.
The cast is small but the four central actors are brilliant and the intensity they convey was almost too much for me to handle. The parents of the victim come determined not to descend into anger and recrimination but they can't rein in their intense grief and anger. Eventually, though, all four parents are able to see and hear each other and their are moments of forgiveness offered and received which brought me to tears. I sat for a while in the dark when it finished.
I wish I could give you a link to the film but I can share a link to an interview with writer/director Fran Krantz and the marvellous Anne Dowd. It is moving in itself. Kranz reflects on his experience with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa years ago and wondered what forgiveness would look like from a personal perspective now that he is a father.
If you get the opportunity to watch Mass, please do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn6gPtEhlis
Ann Dowd and Fran Krantz
2 comments:
Thanks for the recommendation, David. I, too, will likely watch it alone. Sounds too dark for my wife's taste.
In the end it is quote hopeful Roger.
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