Although I came to this film knowing what it was, I did come to it because of the involvement of Corrie Chen, a director who I know from several short films which I have consistently found to be enjoyable and engaging. Here she seems to have been less of an overall creative force than she was in those shorts, but of course is the overall director of the piece. The focus is on the alarming statistic that someone in Australia attempts suicide every 10 minutes; now it doesn't state what "attempt" means – maybe it means they say they are considering it, but even if you throw the definition as wide as possible, the statistic is still really frightening and, like one of the volunteers says during the film, it is not something different in other parts of the other. Even more alarming was the stat that suicide was the main cause of death for Australians between the ages of 15-44, which is insane when you consider the whole place is filled with animals looking to kill you.
The stats are impressive then, but what the film does very well and very quickly, is to move past the numbers and get to the people. The selection of contributions is very good because it covers a lot of bases and, crucially, challenges the typical Aussie idea that depressed people are just being princesses and need to man up. So we have people talking honestly about their times of near suicide, how they felt, what helped them, what didn't help them. We also spend time with Lifeline volunteers (like the Samaritans in the UK) and get to hear one side of some of their calls. Both of these approaches are very effective because they tackle myths and preconceptions just by virtue of them not being that way – the one that stuck with me the most was the call with the guy close to hanging himself, when it became clear that he was in the house with his sleeping wife at the time – again, tackling an assumption (and one I was surprised to find I had made).
The film is professionally made even if it ultimately does fit the mould of many of these types of shows. I did appreciate that although it was targeted towards the heart, it didn't pull too hard in cheaper ways such as music or melodrama, instead it just let the facts and people speak with reasonably limited dressing it up. In this way and in terms of the content and aim, it is not only w worthy film, but a good one too – and one that I hope is and was effective, since statistically the problem is not getting better.
The stats are impressive then, but what the film does very well and very quickly, is to move past the numbers and get to the people. The selection of contributions is very good because it covers a lot of bases and, crucially, challenges the typical Aussie idea that depressed people are just being princesses and need to man up. So we have people talking honestly about their times of near suicide, how they felt, what helped them, what didn't help them. We also spend time with Lifeline volunteers (like the Samaritans in the UK) and get to hear one side of some of their calls. Both of these approaches are very effective because they tackle myths and preconceptions just by virtue of them not being that way – the one that stuck with me the most was the call with the guy close to hanging himself, when it became clear that he was in the house with his sleeping wife at the time – again, tackling an assumption (and one I was surprised to find I had made).
The film is professionally made even if it ultimately does fit the mould of many of these types of shows. I did appreciate that although it was targeted towards the heart, it didn't pull too hard in cheaper ways such as music or melodrama, instead it just let the facts and people speak with reasonably limited dressing it up. In this way and in terms of the content and aim, it is not only w worthy film, but a good one too – and one that I hope is and was effective, since statistically the problem is not getting better.