Newtown

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Audience Member This is not a documentary that focuses on the actual event... it's about the ramifications and grief that was caused by the event. It shows the absolute hell that families are going through post-shooting, especially the victims' families. It's really telling how a basic little change re mandatory checks before buying a gun was beat out in congress. What a complete joke. I guess the NRA has more clout than the victims who lost their life due to a mentally disturbed man who got access to a military assault rifle. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Heartbreakingly beautiful Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member - Newtown's school shooting and all that remains - The shooting at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012 was the largest school shooting in history. 26 people, 20 of them children, died at the hands of a mentally unstable man with an assault weapon. I remember it happening. I remember saying to myself at the time, "thank goodness I don't live in America." And then I proceeded to feel profound rage and sadness because I couldn't do anything to support the crisis. It seemed obvious what Newtown would be about - a story about a man behind a gun. I had prepared myself to once again experience fury at the lack of gun-control in America. And although at times I felt anger while watching Newtown, by the end, I mostly felt an overwhelming empathy for the families affected by that day. Kim A. Syner (Welcome to Shelbyville) is well-known for her short documentary films, but I have to say, this is her magnum opus. Newtown is told through interviews with the family members who lost loved ones on that fateful day. They reminisce about the lives of their children and talk about the short time they had with them before they were murdered. Their stories are often powerfully interrupted by flashbacks to the 911 calls from the day of the shooting. I found myself vacillating between empathy and anger very quickly. As humans, our emotions are fluid. Newtown reflects this. My emotional state was never constant. It's a very effective storytelling method. Aspects of Newtown are very polished. It's a deliberate political attempt to push gun control. But Syner doesn't focus on this issue much. The stories of grieving parents speak for themselves. This film tells the stories of the fallen, rather than the story of the man who committed this hideous crime. As one father said - "you can only imagine how difficult and challenging it is to try and interpret what your seven-year-old experienced, as he was being murdered, by a gun, in his first-grade classroom." Newtown may not be pleasant to watch, but it is one of the most powerful and profound experiences you will have in documentary cinema because it asks you the question, how would you feel if this loss was one of yours and what would you do about it? ---------- This review was first published on Narrative Muse, http://narrativemuse.co/movies/newtown, and was written by Jules Raynes. Narrative Muse curates the best books and movies by and about women and non-binary folk on our website http://narrativemuse.co and our social media channels. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member It started out pretty good but it seemed to drag on and it wasn't always that interesting. I found it less compelling than other documentaries. Less about the day's events and more about how someone of the families feel now. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member So terribly sad and heartbreaking. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Harrowing documentary. I don't know why I put myself through it!!! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Newtown

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