Documenting

After another class in factual film making, I thought I'd make the effort and watch one myself as it has been awhile.
I wasn't intending on watching one tonight per say, but as I got back from work I flicked through the channels and landed on BBC One. The documentary in question was ' Why a mothers love is not enough' it had already started so I just caught the last half an hour of it.

Although it had already started I don't think it lost any of its value or impact that was intended by the piece of film. The film was examining the situation mothers/parents find themselves in when they have disabled children and the impact it has on their life.

The film did everything a documentary should do, it drew me right into the subject matter, even though I have no knowledge of it what so ever. It's something that has never impacted on my life as of yet. The film got right to the emotional core of the subject matter whilst keeping all its value and substance. The second thing it did was completely change my view on one of the talking points of the film, what drives a mother to kill her child.

This has been something that has popped up in the news in the past few year, before I would have completely condemned the mother for doing such a thing. This is obviously a horrifying thing to happen and still isn't a right thing to do, but what the film did was shed enough light on what can drive someone to do such a thing. It changed my point of view of the mothers side, that in some cases it was the lack of support from the out-of touch state's lack of support for them that has left them isolated and alone.

The film set out what I think it was intended for, it got me as a viewer who has little understanding on this matter as a whole but made me sympathetic and also angry at the serious failings of the state that has driven these people to isolation and depression. It made me as a viewer want to do something to change this situation, it installed this feeling through just 30 minutes of fantastic film making. It really has set me a bench mark for documentary making.

I found this to be a fantastic documentary that really got to the core of what it was trying to do, shed light on something that most people would rather ignore than deal with. The presenter really did convey understanding and objective in what she was doing from start to finish, this really did make the documentary.