I had a knot in my throat throughout the whole movie. I couldn’t believe this happened, and I still can’t at times. It’s something that I had forgotten about but it’s been on my mind lately after watching it. The home videos made everything more painful because it showed how these kids were before, and that they were more than a horrific news story. The use of the black screen to cut some parts of the testimonies was interesting to me. On one hand, I wanted to know more details about what had happened. On the other hand, I could see why it wasn’t necessary to include all the graphic details of how the kids looked after being shot several times.
I was impressed by Kim Snyder’s courage to even embark on this journey. I think it’s a challenge that many other filmmakers wouldn’t have taken. There are so many ethical choices to make, that just thinking about starting such a project would’ve paralyzed anybody. The fact that she got started and made the right ethical choices accordingly shows the talented filmmaker she is.
I had never thought about all these mass gun shootings as a public health issue but when she mentioned it, it all made sense. It had always been a possibility for people to go around shooting people, but it wasn’t an epidemic like it’s now. It’s something so common that like she mentioned we have become desensitized to it. I honestly can’t read the news sometimes, because of my own mental health. I know that if I read the news I would have a mental break down every day. We’ve had to become desensitized to all these mass gun shootings and other disasters. If there has been a mass gun shooting of YOUNG KIDS in school and our gun control policies haven’t changed, there’s nothing that will make them change. It breaks my heart, but it’s the truth. I’m glad she brought some light to the pain these families felt. She showed us another side of the story and gave them an opportunity to share their voices. Like Snyder mentioned by watching films like this, and making them ourselves, we can only hope we are bringing about some change.