ScaredSacred

My overall feeling about this film is that it was a slow, drawn-out, structureless wander through some of the worlds genuinely unfortunate situations with a bit of redemption and an obvious message. The film is composed mostly of fairly uninteresting video footage of the countries he visits with bad reenactments, all slow-mo'ed down to a snails pace and overlaid with depressing music. Certainly some of the materials and interviews contain some compelling stories, but unlike what the description on the back suggests, it wasn't so much the victim's story that's being told as it is the director's, Mr. Ripper, and he doesn't tell it well. This film could have included longer, better interviews with the people themselves, letting them tell their stories. Instead Mr. Ripper indulgently draws the story towards himself making it some kind of personal journey, and unfortunately it doesn't end up being much of one. I never really got a sense of any growth as he explores the subject, and he never indicates what about the subject pulled him in in the first place. He just drags us from one place to the next, brushes lightly on the situation and characters, hangs around showing too much uneventful slow-motion footage of people just walking around the streets, then moves on to his next destination. He does this over, and over, and over again without any real development. I felt like this film could have been cut down to 45 minutes but it's drawn out to close to 2 crushingly slow hours. We feel morally obliged to care about the topic, but the director's self-indulgent, meandering, uninspired delivery of his journey makes you grow numb after a while.

You gotta see this one!

I saw it at opening night at The Carlton in Toronto. Mr. Ripper has a gentle, no B.S. way of exposing the truth, or at least his truth, about this troubled world of ours. The film is not AIMED AT any wrong-doers, it simply shows the situation, and asks us to open our hearts. His focus is on the positive, the hope, rather than on the bad guy; on what we can do right versus what they have done wrong. I prefer this to a Farenheit 9/11, where Moore, though extremely witty and brave, sometimes discards objectivity in his pursuit of a Gee Dubbya, or whoever happens to be his enemy of choice, and therefore misses the beauty of the human spirit in the face of all the world's 'ground zero' disasters.

Ripper should be thanked for telling his story, as should the many incredibly brave souls in the film who tell THEIR story.

Technically, I thought the cinematography, editing, and sound design, including the music, were highly creative.

A beautiful peek into the human condition. Velcrow Ripper does an amazing job of allowing subjects to make sweeping statements and then disproving them with a single shot.

For example - while explaining to a Palestinian border guard that he is on a mission to find hope for the future while in his country. The guard replies "you will not find hope here". Boom - cut to three children laughing and sitting on their porch. The best typo ever is seen in a shot from the Kabul Afghanistan airport. A sings prohibits you from bringing in "dangerous things like gasses and passions". They obviously mean poisons but passions can be dangerous there too.

Take the trip, you won't be disappointed.

I thought this film was great, it got me thinking, and I've encouraged everyone I know to go and see it. However, I wish the filmmaker could have figured out whether he was telling his OWN story, or telling the story of his interview subjects. Either one is fascinating, but the tension/indecision was a bit frustrating while I was viewing the film.

I was most impressed with the VARIETIES of "sacredness" he discovered. There was a nice variation in the interpretations of what could be considered "sacred". I liked how he let the interview subjects speak for themselves. Not too much narration. However, this relative lack of narration did leave the viewer hanging at times. I wanted to know more about the filmmaker's personal experience.

Now I'm going to get all critical. I thought the film was a bit random. I sort of wished that he would have made it clearer when he was changing locations. A more structured approach might have been more effective. I also would have appreciated a bit of more of a synopsis of the "scary event" that happened in each location. Especially in the case of Bosnia, this would have been useful (I know I'm making myself look ignorant here). I found that the whole 9/11 issue got a lot more screen time than other locations. This annoyed me a bit, but I do understand why he did it: it's recent and it affected us all.

At times this film became about "religious responses to suffering" and things got a bit fuzzy. When you start talking about religious traditions it's hard to know where to "meet" your audience. It isn't safe to assume that the audience has knowledge of Buddhist or Hindu responses to suffering. However, it wouldn't be advisable to take up too much screen time with generalizations about religious doctrines.

Then the narrator alluded to his time with the Buddhists in the monasteries and his time with the Sufis. Footage of whirling dervishes seemed to be included for aesthetic value, which was a bit frustrating. Since the film was about responses to suffering and he said that he ended up spending time with Buddhists and Sufis, I was incredibly curious about WHY he spent time with these two groups and WHAT he got out of it! Did facing all this suffering make him more receptive to these traditions? What were their responses to his situation, or to "our" situation? I enjoyed this film. I'm glad it was made. I think the subject matter is relevant and compelling. There are scary things happening in the world and we're all coming to terms with them in our own ways. This film is a record of one man's journey. It was personal, but not too sappy. It didn't try to provide answers or easy happy endings, and that's what won me over.

ScaredSacred is a rare, beautiful, and emotionally and spiritually transforming film. It is a personal and spiritual journey, searching for light and hope amidst darkness and pain. That aside, it is beautifully filmed and edited, to tell a story of one's soul in search for understanding and redemption in its existence. The story is told as a mysterious tale and the cinematography is visually stunning and captivating.

It was personally touched by this film and it truly spoke to my heart. Having been raised in one of the "Ground Zero's" shown in the film, I found ScaredSacred surprisingly sincere and non-biased, and spiritually uplifting and transforming in a most positive and genuine way.

Velcrow Ripper's moving documentary film ScaredSacred is one of my favourite documentary films of all times.

A must see film!!!