Archimedes Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 In 2003, the Beaudry family left their comfortable middle-class home to backpack across the world. A year after their adventure, Samuel Beaudry took another journey—one that left his wife, Maryse Chartrand, with shocking questions. How could a life-loving person take his own life? When mourning exhausts itself, what comes next? Can a family survive suicide? This documentary, originally planned as a record of the global trek, is Maryse’s quest to understand her husband’s decision and grow past it. Exploring issues of masculinity, male depression, and family dynamics, the film depicts the tragically belated discovery of one man’s hidden anguish—and one woman’s hard-won emotional healing. http://digital.films.com/play/3HQLUU I really like this documentary. It is haunting to see the dad enjoying the trip,feeling happiness and being content with so little, while knowing that he took his life. The talk about the provider roles and the fear of men to share their vulnerabilties really resonated with me. On the other hand, I'm not sure how to feel about the parents taking the kids to a world trip and removing them from their social circles for a year. There was a moment when the eldest daughter expressed her frustration with the trip and the movie, and the dad continiues shooting.
hannahbanana Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 Interesting...I noticed how each of the children acted differently when talking about their father's death. The boy was the most emotional, while the girls were hardly emotional at all. The older girl even smiled when she talked about him hanging himself. That was what I thought about the most.
J-William Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 I can't see the film on account of being in China. my thoughts are that... well he must have been a sub-optimal parent for his daughters to show so little emotion. I'll give you a little example... a kid I know was raised mostly by his grandmother who died a couple of years ago. He was four at the time, and his reaction to her passing was muted at best. they did not have an especially close relationship despite being in close proximity his whole life. My daughter is almost three, and we have a very close relationship. I know that if I were to die she would be completely beside herself with grief and it would take her years to recover. Now as to why the older girl would smile... I bet she saw him as a bit of an asshole. There are few people I would talk about with a smile at the thought of them hanging themselves (Hitler and Stalin come to mind...). So she is either disturbed, lacks good control of her facial muscles, or in her experience her father was a real asshole.
hannahbanana Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 Now as to why the older girl would smile... I bet she saw him as a bit of an asshole. There are few people I would talk about with a smile at the thought of them hanging themselves (Hitler and Stalin come to mind...). So she is either disturbed, lacks good control of her facial muscles, or in her experience her father was a real asshole. I had a different thought as to why she would do that...since when she was talking about it, it was several years in the future (I think like almost 10 or something), she has developed a coping mechanism to deal with the trauma of his death. It's kind of like when people unknowingly laugh when talking about abuse that they experienced, or detaching themselves emotionally from a traumatic event. But that still worries me, because that means that she probably hasn't received any therapy or guidance as to how to deal with difficult events like her father's death. And, it seemed as if no one else in her family felt that it was odd she would act in such a way
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