• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Film
  • DVD
  • Editorial
  • About ScreenFish

ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • News
  • OtherFish
  • Podcast
  • Give

Down Syndrome

Reporting from Slamdance – “Unstoppable” filmmakers (part 1)

February 13, 2021 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

Diversity is being recognized as an important goal in the film industry. Many voices and many perspectives are needed in every art form, and that is very true of film. This year’s Slamdance Film Festival has made an express effort to bring the idea of ablism and the perspective of people with disabilities (PWD). There is a special section of shorts called “Unstoppable” that focuses on films by or about peoples with disabilities. It has a wide range of styles, tones, and content. There are documentaries, music videos, and narrative films. There are 22 films in the section, so I’m going to divide my comments into two reports. Here’s the first half.

A$$ Level. (4 minutes, directed by Alison Becker). This is a 90’s style rap music video about what life is like in a wheelchair—with attitude. You gotta love the attitude!

Best Friend. (6 minutes, directed by Cory Reeder). This is a story of a family moving from New York to LA. Their daughter is unhappy about leaving her friends, so her mother lets her get a dog. No PWD-specific content, but it does make use of two actors with disabilities (and a disabled dog).

Committed. (6 minutes, directed by Rachel Handler and Chrystal Arnette). When a young man enlists his best friend and his girlfriend’s best friend to help with a marriage proposal, the friends seek to undermine the proposal because they would be moving away. Also no PWD specific content, but actors with disabilities.

Endomic. (10 minutes, directed by Camille Hollett-French and Ipek Ensari). A brief look at the problem many women deal with because of endometriosis. One in ten menstruating women suffer from this painful ailment. The film, made by a researcher, points to the need for more funding to understand, diagnose, and treat this.

Feeling Through.(19 minutes, directed by Doug Roland). A homeless teen helps a blind-deaf man (played by a deaf-blind actor) find his bus to get home. He learns to see the man as more than a problem, and also gets perspective on his own trials. Feeling Through has been shortlisted for Oscar consideration. It is a very moving story.

Flying Eggs. (9 minutes, directed by Sheldon Chau). A man out on his morning run goes by a building where a boy is throwing eggs out the window. He goes up to the apartment in anger, but finds a boy with Down Syndrome. . . and a whole lot more.

Full Picture (12 minutes, directed by Jacob Reed). How do people perceive people who have a disability? When actress and activist Santina Muha had video chats with various people without them seeing her wheelchair, they all had a positive reaction to her. When she meets people for real, the first thing they notice is the chair. She’d prefer they notice her beautiful hair. It reminds us that we all make such assessments of people and need to look deeper than that first thing we notice.

How Much Am I Worth? (6 minutes, directed by Rachel Handler and Catriona Rubenis-Stevens). This serves as an indictment of the US healthcare system. We meet four women with disabilities and hear of the barrier of expense and bureaucracy that they encounter (even with insurance) for the care and equipment they need. When the comparison comes to how one of them is cared for in another country, we know that we should be doing better.

Human Helper. (6 minutes, directed by Shaina Ghuraya). A light sci-fi/comedy in which there are now AI androids (all pretty and females) have been developed to help people. However, they don’t quite know how to react to someone in a wheelchair. A woman in a wheelchair goes attempts to make it work. Many trials follow.

I Wish I Never. (5 minutes, directed by Shaina Ghuraya). The film begins with a note that 40% of women with disabilities experience sexual or physical assault in their life time. This is a music video that reflects on the experience of PWD in abusive relationships.

My Layers.(6 minutes, directed by Susanne Serres). This film uses dance and voice over to reflect the experience of psychosis and using creativity to overcome that separation from reality. It makes for a very visually interesting consideration of that affliction.

Filed Under: Film, Film Festivals Tagged With: Diversity, Down Syndrome, people with disabilities, wheelchair

The Peanut Butter Falcon – Heart of a Hero

November 12, 2019 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

One of the basic frameworks for a plot is The Hero Takes a Journey. It is seen in The Odyssey, any number of road movies, as well as the Gospel According to Luke. The Peanut Butter Falcon (winner of an audience award at SXSW) is the latest iteration of that plotline. The heroes may seem a bit unlikely, but it is the trip itself which reveals heroism.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

Zak (Zack Gottsagen) is a young man with Down syndrome who has escaped a nursing home wearing only his briefs. His dream is to go to a pro wrestling school run by the Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church). While hiding out in a boat, Zak becomes connected with Tyler (Shia LaBeouf) a small time criminal on the run from some angry fisherman he has crossed. As Tyler makes his way through the Outer Banks towards Florida, Zak follows along, a bit to Tyler’s chagrin. Meanwhile the fishermen are trying to track down Tyler, and Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a young kind-hearted caregiver from the rest home, is trying to find Zak and return him. And so, the adventures begin.

At the screening I attended, the co-writers/directors (Tyler Nilson and Mike Schwartz) told the crowd that they made this film because Zack Gottsagen wanted to be a movie star. They had volunteered at Zeno Mountain Farm, an organization that works with people of many handicaps. Sometimes their task is to make a film. (Cf. the documentary Becoming Bulletproof.) They met Zack there and became friends. They decided to create an opportunity for Zack to fulfill his dream.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

Because Down syndrome is a part of Zak’s character, the story inevitably has an aspect about overcoming obstacles to fulfill dreams. And the film has a bit of inspirational quality because of that. But that is not the main focus of the story. More important are questions of belonging, and knowing who you are. Zak’s struggles provide the catalyst for these other, more universal themes to be examined.

Early in the film we get the line, “Friends are the family you choose.” As Zak and Tyler travel together, a bond is formed that is strengthened as they meet each problem on the way. When Eleanor reluctantly joins them, a more complex relationship begins to grow. Each of these three has no one else in their lives. Zak has become a ward of the state because his family can’t provide for his special needs, Tyler is suffering grief and guilt over his brother’s death. Eleanor has been widowed (although her grief isn’t really explored). As different as they all are, they begin to find fulfillment in the “family” they are becoming.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

But on the individual level, the story focuses on who we are by nature. It first comes up one night as Tyler and Zak are under the stars. Zak dreams of being a wrestler and wants to be a bad guy. But Tyler tells him that he has the heart of the hero, so he’ll never be able to be a villain. Tyler is uncertain how to answer if he himself is a good guy or bad buy, but Zak knows.

That theme is approached in a slightly different perspective in a scene involving a blind preacher. As he prepares to baptize Zak, he notes that there are wolves and sheep in this world. He can tell that the two of them are sheep, but that the wolves are after them. He offers baptism as a kind of protection from the wolves of the world. (Which is an interesting—and not unsound—understanding of baptism.)

As this theme of good guy/bad guy plays out, we see that not only is Tyler right about Zak having the heart of a hero, but that through his time with Zak, we see that Tyler has a hero’s heart as well.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

Road movies such as this are usually about the change the journey brings to the characters. The Peanut Butter Falcon is not so much about transformation as it is about revealing what might be hidden in rough or seemingly broken exteriors.

Special features include a photo gallery, a theatrical trailer, and “Zack’s Story: The Making of the Peanut Butter Falcon.”

Photos courtesy of Roadside Attractions and Armory Films

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: Dakota Johnson, Down Syndrome, Mike Schwartz, road movie, Shia LaBouef, Thomas Haden Church, Tyler Nilson, Zack Gottsagen

Where Hope Grows: Hope Springs Anew

May 14, 2015 by J. Alan Sharrer Leave a Comment

Veggieball - Where Hope Grows

This weekend at your local theater, there are two major films that will generate considerable interest from both casual and devoted moviegoers. There’s Pitch Perfect 2, a musical comedy certain to attract a younger audience. There’s also some film about a guy named Mad Max (you might have heard about it here on ScreenFish) that takes place in a bleak desert landscape evocative of a Midnight Oil music video. There’s also a much quieter film called Where Hope Grows that features a baseball player and a grocery store worker with Down Syndrome.  If your cinema is showing the latter, I highly recommend you give it a try before saying hello to either Anna Kendrick or Charlize Theron. You’ll walk out of the building a better person for it.

Where Hope Grows tells the story of Calvin Campbell (Kris Polaha, Backstrom), a baseball player who couldn’t quite make it at the big league level due to a case of the yips. As a result, he finds himself in a daze, simply trying to make it through each day while dealing with the responsibilities of singlehandedly raising his teenage daughter Katie (McKaley Miller, Hart of Dixie).  To a large degree, Calvin fails at this task as he slowly spirals out of control, leaving Katie to take care of him instead.

There is a glimmer of hope in all of this, however. While at the grocery store one day, Calvin meets a guy from the produce department who is actually named Produce (David DeSanctis). Produce has Down Syndrome, yet somehow knows the department like the back of his hand, rattling off identification code after identification code to Calvin before giving him a bear hug. Calvin takes a liking to Produce and develops a friendship with him, even teaching him how to play baseball by having him hit fruits and vegetables in the alley. The challenge comes in the form of Colt (Michael Grant), a co-worker of Produce with an affinity for skirting the rules as he dates Katie (providing a relationship her father cannot). Calvin isn’t happy about this situation—and rightly so—but is powerless to do anything about it because he can’t break out of his tailspin. This leads to some significant drinking that his good friend Milt (Billy Zabka, The Karate Kid) only serves to exacerbate.

Yet Produce remains a significant figure for Calvin, even inviting him to church (which Calvin shrugs off immediately).  He’s always made it a goal to be Employee of the Month at the grocery store, but is always overlooked due to his condition. This leads to a rather tense discussion between Calvin and the manager over fairness and not discriminating against someone because they’re different. The end result is exactly what you’d expect: Produce is passed over for the honor yet again.

Oh, you didn’t expect that? Then the latter half of the film will certainly provide you with some more surprises.

Calvin and Katie - Where Hope Grows
Calvin eventually has a prodigal son moment (see Luke 15:11-32) when, in a drunken stupor, Produce takes his car keys and runs away.  He attempts to show up for an interview to be the manager of the local baseball team but arrives so late that the stadium is completely locked up. Dejected, he traipses through the evening to another baseball diamond and, in the pouring rain, discovers something about himself while attempting to hit balls.  At this point, he begins his comeback by going to church—for an AA meeting where he meets Amy (Brooke Burns, Baywatch)

The climax of the film comes at a family fun center when Milt notices that his wife Susan (Danica McKellar, The Wonder Years) has, thanks to Milt’s lifestyle choices, plants a kiss on a friend whom the two have taken in at their house.  Meanwhile, Cole decides to make his move on Katie in a scene that has scarred me forever from playing Laser Tag. This leads to a denouement that is somewhat predictable but nonetheless jarring.  Can hope come out of all these messed-up lives?  The answer is not an easy one.

Of course, one of the unique things about Where Hope Grows is DeSanctis himself. He plays the role of Produce with a freshness, vitality, and childlike exuberance often missing in Hollywood films these days. Yes, he has Down Syndrome, but a lesson to be learned here is that stereotypes are meant to be shattered—and I think some significant shattering will occur from this film.  Polaha does a nice job as Calvin and has an extremely natural chemistry with DeSanctis (one he described as “instantaneous and organic”) that is evident in their scenes together. This is also the case with the father-daughter relationship he plays with Miller.

A second unique aspect of the film is the nature of how faith-based it is. Where Hope Grows does not attempt to bludgeon people with God, but allows the faith discussion to happen in a semi-organic manner. Produce reads his Bible and sings in the church choir. Susan reads a short passage from Matthew 6 at a critical juncture of the film. There is a scene where Calvin and Katie discuss prayer in a manner that is gripping and challenging all at once. Director Chris Dowling (The Remaining) said that “Faith films tend to write their world as they want to see it rather than what it is . . . [it’s supposed to be] a conversation starter.”  To that end, I think he does a great job of making that happen.

Produce, Calvin, and Amy -- Where Hope Grows
This brings me to the third aspect of Where Hope Grows. Even though it could technically be considered a faith-based flick, I beg to differ. So did Miller, who in an interview I recently had with her, described it as the opposite of a “Hey, look at us; we’re a Christian film.” Although the overarching themes of respecting others, redemption, and making the most of every day are on full display, there’s a grittiness to the picture that will make people sit up and take notice. Calvin’s struggles with drinking are on full display, showcased by numerous bottles of liquor that he downs quite often. There’s an attempted rape scene and some violence. Does this sound like something that churches would probably endorse? However, if you go to the movie’s Facebook page, you’ll see that over 478,000 people have placed a like on it.  That’s not a misprint. Instead, I see it as a fantastic step in the right direction where Christians and those not of faith can dialogue about issues common to both.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the film is perfect (very few are).  Some of the relationships aren’t explained as thoroughly as they could’ve been (as an example, Calvin and Katie never discuss the missing part of their family—Calvin’s inferred wife). The pacing was a tad slow in places and there’s a confrontation between Calvin and Milt that looks a bit hokey on screen. However, there are a lot of good things that will come out as a result of Where Hope Grows—thanks to a fellow named Produce and an insatiable desire to be a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  It’s a film that will make you walk out of the theater with a renewed zest for life and a challenge to make every day a little bit better than the last.

Filed Under: Film, Interviews, Reviews Tagged With: Baseball, Billy Zabka, Brooke Burns, Chris Dowling, Danica McKellar, David DeSanctis, dialogue, Down Syndrome, gritty, Grocery, Kris Polaha, McKaley Miller, Michael Grant, prodigal son, Produce, redemption, Where Hope Grows

Primary Sidebar

THE SF NEWS

Get a special look, just for you.

sf podcast

Hot Off the Press

  • How to Become “Newsproof”
  • Murder Amongst the Mormons: Truth, Lies and Videotape
  • A Few of International Feature Oscar Hopefuls
  • The Mauritanian: Hell in a Cell
  • The World to Come: Isolation that Binds
Find tickets and showtimes on Fandango.

where faith and film are intertwined

film and television carry stories which remind us of the stories God has woven since the beginning of time. come with us on a journey to see where faith and film are intertwined.

Footer

ScreenFish Articles

How to Become “Newsproof”

Murder Amongst the Mormons: Truth, Lies and Videotape

  • About ScreenFish
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 · ScreenFish.net · Built by Aaron Lee