ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

recovery

Our American Family: Home is Where the Heartache Is

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Cinema has the power to open our eyes to things we’ve never experienced or seen. 

When this happens, it’s usually because we’re being challenged to see the world in different ways or, at times, to change our lives. What’s more, it can also be because the subject matter is a difficult topic or introduces a character which connects with us on a deeper level. And, sometimes, cinema can be hard to watch. 

Our American Family is all of these things and more. 

Directed by Hallee Adelman and Sean O’Grady, Our American Family is an unfiltered story of one family in Philadelphia as they deal with generational substance abuse. Anchored by their matriarch Linda, they each struggle to deal with the pain of history and work towards finding hope for the future. Although the relationship between them is frayed, they remain loyal to each other to help their family climb out of the depths of their suffering.

Timed for a release with National Recovery Month, Our American Family follows one family’s journey through addiction and recovery from trauma that has stemmed through generations. After having built a relationship with his family over many years, Adelman and O’Grady clearly has led to a level of trust which few filmmakers get with their subjects. For example, conversations around the dinner table are unfiltered and honest. Without interference, the two filmmakers simply allow events to simply unfold around them. (Equally as impressive is the fact that the film does not sensationalize their stories either.) There is an honesty about this film that few other documentaries are able to achieve.

At no time do Linda, Nicole or any of the family adjust their behavior with the cameras present. This family is so particularly open about their issues that one cannot help but feel both embraced and uncomfortable at the same time. They have welcomed the viewer into their home to bear witness to the challenges that they face every day. Instead, this is their family and these are their struggles. As such, this is not a film merely about addiction and recovery but, as the title suggests, about one particular family and their journey towards healing. 

And, make no mistake, it is a messy journey.

As Nicole struggles to keep a relationship with her daughter, she battles constant setbacks with her addictions. As Linda tries to hold the family together, she too is grappling with her past. (In fact, almost every member of the family is struggling to deal with their own issues.)

What’s more, Our American Family is also very much a film about reconciliation as much as it is addiction. What does it mean for a family to come together when hurt has taken place? What sorts of courage and grace does it take to rebuild relationships when trust continues to be broken? While some relationships cannot always be fixed, Family reminds us of the commitment and dedication that it takes to stick with the ones that can. 

It also reminds us that there’s hope.

While it may not be a ‘fun watch’, Our American Family is a powerful portrait of what it means to suffer from scars of addiction and the dedication that it takes to survive. Even though it focuses on this one particular family, the film also speaks to the struggles that many others face as they attempt to move on from times of addiction or pain. This may be their American family… but the challenges they face could be anyone.

Our American Family is available in select theatres on Friday, September 2, 2022 and on VOD on September 6th, 2022.

Why I Love (and Fear) Jordan Peterson & Russell Brand

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Jordan Peterson and Russell Brand

tldr version

Jordan Peterson
and Russell Brand
both see a
current crisis
and both see it as
primarily “spiritual”

however, for each,
there are issues
when it comes to how
*truth*
and “spirituality” relate

and how they relate
is vital

bit longer version

fanboying

i love me some
Peterson and Brand

always generally dug
Brand’s flicks
and standup,
and have been a
fan of his podcast/YouTube
for a year plus

(fun fact:
the pic above is
from once when
Peterson went
on said podcast;
and don’t they look
smashing together?
🙂 )

Peterson came to
my attention
more gradually,
but then like a
hurricane recently –
seriously:
give him a Google
and marvel at the
moment he’s been having

i have Recovery and
12 Rules for Life
on my bedside table
(along with some more
explicitly Christiany books
and a tablet, upon which
i theoretically read,
but mainly just
obsess over guitar gear
i don’t really need)

both are excellent texts
and both feel
supremely plugged in
to a zeitgeisty sense
that something’s amiss,
in general,
with ppl rn

(i agree)

both also,
and both men
in their public lives,
propose something
like a
spiritual cause
for this
“something amiss” –
what might be called a
“spiritual crisis of meaning”
stemming from
God
(or something like God;
more on this later)
no longer holding
significant sway
for so many

(i agree for sure)

caveating

please note here
that these gentlemen
are obv far more complex
than i’m making
them seem, as is
this whole topic
(and i’m not
even addressing
their politics);
i’m attempting to
essentialize here;
i considered deep diving,
but am refraining
for the sake of brevity
and also because i’m
kind of lazy

in any case, here are
some decent articles
related to this post;
go ahead and Google –
there’s plenty more:

“Jordan Peterson vs. Russell Brand”

“The religious hunger that drives Jordan Peterson’s fandom”

“Is Dr. Jordan Peterson A Gateway Drug to Christianity, Or Just A Highbrow Joel Osteen?”

here are two of my own,
also related:

“Get Re-Enchanted: Stranger Things 2, Pop Culture & God”

“What IT Means (and How *Any* Good Story “Means”)”

problematizing

but here’s the problem:
as much as i *love*
Peterson and Brand’s
respective approaches
to the significance
of the spiritual,
i *fear* that
neither approaches
*truth* sufficiently

what do i mean?

well, with Brand,
the issue appears to be
lack of specificity –
many manifestations
of spirituality
might address the
problems he sees
(note that his book
is based on the 12-steps,
which speaks of “God,
as we understand him”)

and while this is
well and good to a point,
of course,
in the end,
truth commonly understood
is *specific* and *exclusive*
by its nature,
and not addressing this,
it seems to me,
is a problem

for Peterson,
the issue is confusing
*truth*
with something like
“what works”

he tells us to live by a
certain ethic
and seek a certain meaning
grounded in
certain Jungian archetypes,
not because it is true
or because the
archetypes are –
at least not in
the usual
historical/correspondence
way generally meant –
but because it
just happens to reflect
how things have gone
re: humans
when it comes to
our psychology
from an
evolutionary perspective;
it is what is and
therefore what “works”
and therefore “true”

again, all well and good
to attach some
functionality to truth,
of course,
perhaps,
but conflating the two,
it seems to me,
is a problem

also, this is why
Peterson kind of
dodges/ducks/complicates
the question he’s
often asked:
“do you believe in God;”
he may or may not,
but he definitely
does not think of
that question primarily
as it relates to *truth*
commonly understood

finning

and so:
when it comes to
Peterson and Brand,
i love them,
but i also fear them

i find them both
engaging and articulate
and brilliant, etc.,
and *correct;*
but, concerningly,
on this point,
only to a point

i want people to
hear their message(s) –
i know good can come
of it –
but i fear ill may too

i see them as
important,
*prophetic* even
in this current moment –
both have
cut through the mix
in a way that’s so
unusual anymore,
given the noise –
but probably only
“part way down the path”
to the true destination
they both seem to
have glimpsed
(or, better,
which has glimpsed them):

not God
“as we understand him,”
not a “God” that
simply works,
but the *true* God

the true God
as He really is

 

Coming to My Senses – A Study in Determination

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When motocross rider Aaron Baker broke his neck (C-4, 5, and 6) in 1999, the doctors told him he had a one-in-a-million chance to even be able to feed himself again. Dominic Gill’s documentary Coming to My Senses recounts Baker’s determination and work to regain movement far beyond what the doctor’s expected, eventually allowing him to walk 20 miles over six days out of Death Valley.

Obviously, it was not an easy task. It took 18 years to reach this point, beginning with him concentrating on moving a toe, through various steps, to reach new levels of activity. Along the way he begins riding a bike—first stationary, then a tandem with another rider, finally to a three-wheel bike at which he excels in competition. The story also has some rocky parts including frustration, depression, running out of insurance, and the lack of places willing to work on such a seemingly hopeless case.

Baker’s determination and resolve is seen in the mission of walking out of Death Valley. With only Gill as a companion (and occasional helper), Baker must concentrate on each step. His routine is when he makes 100 steps, he gets a drink of water. When he makes 1000 steps, he gets to sit. (For the record, the six day walk entailed 78,400 steps). The walk also reflects Baker’s attraction to extreme sports. It may seem much milder than his days in motocross, but Death Valley is no typical 20 mile walk. He mentions at one point that he feels most alive when he is facing danger.

Of course, this story is not just Baker’s story, but also that of those who have worked with him and supported him through the 18 year process—especially his mother. While we may focus on Baker’s determination and perseverance, it is important to note that those qualities are also present in the others who made his accomplishments possible.

Photos courtesy of The Orchard

Hollywood Beauty Salon – People of Dignity

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“Dear God, I know it will be better one day. They tell me to trust you, but God, it’s hard.”

Hollywood Beauty Salon is not about hairstyles of the rich and famous. There is no celebrity dishing. For that matter, there are no celebrities. But here are people whose lives and resilience are worthy of our attention.

hollywood-beauty-salon-movie-sanetta-1024x682

The documentary by Glenn Holsten is set in a mental health recovery center in the Germantown area of Philadelphia. We meet a few of those who are working through recovery there. We hear diagnoses (paranoid schizophrenia, PTSD, bi-polar, depression, addiction), but those diagnoses are not where the film focuses. Instead the people themselves, their struggles, their hopes for a better life are front and center. Holsten offers them a chance to design the way their stories are told. It could be through writing a short play, through animation, through music, and then helps them find a way to express what is meaningful in their lives.

The community is working to put together a fashion and “Hair Show” based in the salon at the facility, run by a woman known as Hollywood, who has her own troubled past but is now a Recovery Guide and a Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner. Through her efforts and the support the recovering people give to each other, they are able to begin to find ways of moving beyond what ever diagnoses or past events have controlled their lives.

hollywood-beauty-salon-movie-darlene

Key to the film is the respect given to each of those we meet. The filmmaker is not showing us the bizarre lives that some people live. These are people who have been hurt and in some cases are still hurting. But in Holsten’s film they are people who deserve the dignity that is inherent in us all as beloved children of God. The film offers them a chance to soar (in one case, almost literally) into their dreams. Each of them still has work to do in their recovery, but they are no longer trapped in the darkness that has at times been the defining aspect of their lives.

Photos courtesy Hollywood Beauty Salon