At the end of last
week, before learning the sad news of the horrible accident that took the life
of the young son of one of Barry’s colleagues, and before reading the New York
Times review of the new documentary, “If You Build It,” we saw that the
filmmaker was going to be at a screening at the IFC Film Center in Greenwich
Village on Sunday afternoon. We have had the opportunity to attend such events
in the past and find them quite enjoyable, so we purchased tickets. We then saw
the New York Times review written by Nicolas Rapold, a name unfamiliar to us, in
which he had little positive to say about film. But since we had already purchased
the tickets, we decided to go ahead and see it. Sadly, and presumably at least
in part because of the review, there were fewer than twenty souls in the audience,
most of whom appeared to be New York University film students.
Frankly, we thought
that Mr. Rapold was a bit too harsh in his assessment of this film. It was not
the finest or most exciting or insightful documentary we have ever seen, but it
was an interesting story that we felt was well told. The film chronicles two
young teachers in a small rural North Carolina high school who embark on an
exciting hands-on learning opportunity. When the filmmaker began the project,
he must have thought he was simply chronicling a nice story. But as often seems
to happen in both life and in the making of documentaries, things do not always
go as planned. Shortly after this new course began, the principal who
championed it was fired, and the funding for the course was withdrawn. But the
two young teachers were determined to see the project through. It would have
been fascinating to learn more about just why the school board acted as they
did, but during the Q&A after the film, the Director said that the school
board denied his repeated requests to interview its members for the film. Nonetheless,
“If You Build It” is a compelling testament to the commitment of teachers and
their potential to change the lives of their students, themes that resonate
with us as the parents of two talented and highly motivated educators.
Speaking of films, I guess the folks responsible for the Golden Globe awards liked “American Hustle” a lot more than I did. We never went to see “Twelve Years a Slave,” another major winner, because from everything we have read and seen it is an extremely painful film to watch, and I just do not have the ability to suffer through it. Interestingly, both the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor awards were given to “Dallas Buyer’s Club” actors Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. I wrote about this film back in December, but looking back I see that I mainly focused on my own experience in drug development for the treatment of AIDS. In fact, these two performances were extremely impressive, although I must admit I expected Robert Redford to win best actor for “All is Lost.” I am not sure what distinguishes the selection of the Golden Globe awards from that of the Oscars, but it will be interesting to see how the Oscar awards are distributed.
This morning we attended the funeral service for Cooper Stock, the 9-year-old son of one of the faculty members in Barry’s department whose life ended suddenly while walking with his father less than a block from the family’s Upper West Side apartment last Friday evening. There were an enormous number of people at the service, which overflowed to an upper balcony in the sanctuary. Although many of these people undoubtedly knew each other, the sanctuary was stunningly quiet. Only hugs and brief nods were exchanged. A rabbi spoke, followed by one of Cooper’s cousins (a boy who appeared to be around the same age as Cooper was), two of his uncles, and finally his father. We did not know Cooper, but so many things about him were familiar to anyone who spends time with 9 year old boys, like his love of sports and chicken nuggets. Listening to the moving tributes makes you ask yourself whether you would have the strength to stand up and speak under such unimaginably painful circumstances. Neither of us is sure that we could. As an accomplished physician and clinical researcher, Dr. Stock is not a stranger to public speaking, but even he lost his composure during his closing words. Gut wrenching hardly comes close to describing it.
All I know is that I cannot wait to get up to Sharon in a few days and hug our grandchildren!
Love,
Rebecca
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