When Kim Snyder came to show and talk to us about her film Newtown I was blown away. I loved how she opened up the movie by saying that this movie is the community’s story and not hers; she was just there to document this neighborhoods experience and listen to their experiences. I almost did not want to take any notes while watching the film because I wanted to experience every second of emotion. Watching the expressions on the faces of the grieving community were such raw moments that really made me think about how difficult it was for Newtown to get over Sandy Hook.
The interviews in Newtown were so powerful and chilling because of the natural feelings that the subjects showed. The interviewees did not even have to say every word of their sentences before they choked up for me to tell how much pain they were in. For people to really understand how horrible something is, they need to see visual evidence, and I think the pain on these people’s faces showed just that. Us as viewers did not need to see gruesome images from the event because we were just as impacted from the emotional interviews.
One of the smartest decisions the director made was by making the story about the victims and not about the shooter. There were some clips that referenced the shooter, like the security footage from inside his house, but not much information was given on him. I am not sure that his name was even given in the film, he was just referred to as “the shooter.” This reminded me of visiting the 9/11 Memorial two weeks ago and how the museum was set up to honor lives of the fallen. Inside the whole exhibit, there was only one room that talked about the terrorists who committed this horrible crime. The importance of this in both the 9/11 Memorial and in Newtown is that they both exist to honor those who are gone and for the families who have lost their loved ones. The people who are at fault for their crimes should not be addressed because these creations are about the good and not the evil.