Greetings again from the darkness. For viewers who value unlimited gun rights over the safety of children, this documentary will probably not convince you otherwise. For everyone else, it's a gut-wrenching story. Mark Barden and his wife Jacqueline have experienced two devastating events in their lives. On December 14, 2012, their young son Daniel was one of twenty first-graders and six teachers shot to death while at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Barden then dedicated his life to getting legislation passed that would help prevent such tragedies in the future. He and his family were in Washington DC when the Manchen-Toomey Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act failed to pass.
Imagine the pain of losing a young son in a school shooting, and then have lawmakers at the federal government level tell you that they place more value on the shooter's rights than your own kid's safety. If it weren't true, it would be unthinkable.
Documentarian Rick Korn's previous project, HARRY CHAPIN: WHEN IN DOUBT, DO SOMETHING (2020), chronicled the singer's life story, and this time out, he discovers music plays a key role in Mark Barden's life. We get a brief background on Mark's childhood and how he became a rising musician in the Nashville scene as an enormously talented guitarist. It's where he met his wife, Jacqueline, and they ultimately moved to Newtown to raise their three children (Daniel was the youngest).
After the shooting, Mark admits he was "re-wired as a person". Music was something he had shared with Daniel and now was not something he could pursue. Instead, he committed to activism ... even as additional mass shootings occurred around the country. His calm, yet passionate demeanor, and ability to articulate pain and a reasonable and worthy path forward, made him a welcome speaker as he pursued legislation for background checks.
It took some time before Mark was able to let music back into his life. Some in the music community joined in to show that 'music can transcend the spoken word'. Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Karen Fairchild, Sheryl Crow, and Bernie Williams (former NY Yankee), all joined Mark on his mission ... as did many others. As Mark played guitar, it motivated his daughter Natalie to join in singing, as well as taking up the torch for activism.
We learn about the 26 new playgrounds named in honor of the Sandy Hook victims, and we learn of the work of Sandy Hook Promise, an organization formed to drive awareness and change. Director Korn covers much of what's happened since 2012 in regard to mass shootings and the citizen push for some gun control measures. This includes the 2022 Uvalde, Texas shooting and the ensuing impassioned "What are we doing?" plea from Senator Chris Murphy. This is also likely the first time John Lennon's "Bed-in for Peace" has been mentioned so closely to the name of Alex Jones, someone whose story is so disgusting, we can assume you already know. The film solidifies a couple of thoughts for us: Mark Barden is a man to respect, and we can continue to hope that the lobby for rational thought will someday be as strong as the lobby for unlimited gun rights.
The film had its world premiere and opened theatrically on Friday, December 8th in Manhattan. Additional cities to follow.
