Catholic in Film School

So I finally saw it! And I did enjoy it.

The film follows two brothers, Cliff and Jeff Azize (who also work for Grassroots Films) as they travel the world to try to understand what it means to be human. It’s quite a lofty concept to undertake in 90 minutes, but to do so the brothers lived homeless in New York for a week (in what turned out to be the coldest week of winter in NY), travelled to Peru to help their friends over at Surf for the Cause serve in a home for sick children, and Ghana, Africa to speak to a colony of lepers and people who are dying of AIDS. Intercut between it all are interviews from various individuals like Alveda King (MLK Jr.’s niece) who spoked about some stuff I can’t remember (I’ll get to that later).

Within the first few minutes of the film we meet Jeff, sitting in a car, looking out the window, talking about his life. The scene is in black and white, stark and raw. It was a great way to start off because as Jeff  is looking off into the distance, you can’t help but get the feeling that we’re about to begin an adventure.

According to the producer Joe Campo, Jeffery was cast as the lead actor of the film, but besides the car scene and the final scene of the film, Jeff is not the focus of the film and for a good 30 minutes I forgot he was in the movie. The focus shifts from Jeff, to Jeff and Cliff during the homeless experiment, then to Cliff during the Peru trip, and then actor Matt Sanchez during the trip to Ghana.  It didn’t take away from the entertainment value of the film, but as I watched the posse travel the world I couldn’t help but wonder, “Hey, where’s Jeff?”

My favorite sequence by far was the one in Peru. You can’t go wrong with putting kids in a documentary, mainly because our emotional attachment to the innocent is so strong, but also because little children are quite comedic in everything they do. There are various shenanigans that make for a nice laugh I won’t spoil for you, but they all come to an abrupt end when the kids go to a hospital for treatment.  There’s a scene where Cliff is standing over a divider watching one of the boys in physical therapy. The boy is hysterically crying, and as Cliff watches, you can’t help but sense his empathy and compassion.  Afterward, Cliff goes to hang out with one of the other little girls in the home named Angela. There’s a shot where the apparently exhausted Angela is completely asleep in Cliff’s arms, and I’ve got to say, there’s nothing more beautiful than watching a man care for a child. (I’m just sayin…lol.)

Now this is just a personal preference, but I like my documentaries nitty gritty, stark and raw like that first car scene with Jeff.  The soundtrack wasn’t all that great and a little random in some parts (i.e. epic music when the scene wasn’t all that epic), and I thought the film didn’t have enough natural production sound. If the movie is about human experiences, than it is only fitting that it exploit as many of the human senses as it can. The Peru sequence was great with regard to natural sound, but when the boys were in Africa, I was curious to know what the lepers’ canes sounded like in the dirt.  I wanted to hear coughs and the slap of their hands as they greeted their guests. Even if the editors cheated and did a little foley artistry in post production, that natural sound would have definitely enriched the scenes and made them more real.

I also wanted to see more. The NY and Ghana sequences were a bit short, which is understandable if they only had a limited amount of footage, but from the Q&A session it sounded like they had plenty of stuff. I was actually very interested in some of the anecdotes the filmmakers talked about afterward and was a little disappointed they didn’t make it past the editing room.

My guess is that those sequences were cut to leave room for all of the “expert interviews” from people like Alveda King. Don’t hate me if you liked them, but I just think reptitive philosophies expressed through words have no place in a visual medium such as a film. Don’t get me wrong, interviews are practically required for documentaries, but there were so many of them there was a point where my mind started to wander.

 ***Stop Reading here if you don’t want any more spoilers.***

I hate reading movie spoilers, but the ending was so fabulous I have to write about it.

Cliff arranged a meeting between Jeff and their father, whom Jeff had not seen in many years. As Jeff and his brother walked up to their father, I was on the edge of my seat wondering if he was going to flip out and refuse to see him. Once again my complaint was that I wanted to see more of what was actually happening, but there’s a part where Jeff and his Dad sit down to talk, and as Jeff tells him that he loves him and forgives him, his dad puts his hand on Jeff’s knee in acknowledgment. It was a simple gesture, but it said everything. (And it was very well shot too.)

I recorded the Q&A session after the screening, and I’ll post it after the next vlog episode. I know I was critical, but I did really like the film and I highly recommend it. Look at the left side bar and click over to Grassroots’ website to find a screening near you!

Also, I was talking to Mike Campo about their options for distribution, and he has asked for our prayers as they look to get this film to a wider audience. So pray for the distribution of this film and that God will continue to fortify these very Godly young men in all of their endeavors.

Pax Christi, Rebecca.

 PS: Pray for me too, I’ve got midterms this week. I know I asked you to pray for me last semester around finals time, and they must have worked because I got straight A’s!