Forgiveness: Stories of Our Time, a DVD documentary by Johanna Lunn
Forgiveness: Stories of Our Time, released by Alive Mind Media, is a documentary about our world today and passage through those tragedies which come into so many lives.
Written and produced by Johanna Lunn, with Cinematography by John Walker this 52 minute video quite deservingly was named winner of the 2007 Best Mid-Length Documentary from Hot Docs.
In Lunn’s Forgiveness documentary, four individuals are featured who have survived horrible tragedy that would shake the world for anyone person experiencing such loss.
Four Stories of Unimaginable Loss
The film opens with the story of Lesley Parrot whose beautiful young daughter was stalked, brutally raped and savagely murdered.
The father of Anne Marie Hagan was savagely slaughtered with an ax by an untreated schizophrenic neighbor who had become like a son to the man he killed. Even at his trial, the killer never expressed any remorse.
The wife of Alan McBride, as well as eight other innocent people, were victims of an IRA bomb which exploded in a fish market in Belfast.
And the fourth, Reverend Julie Nicholson lost her 24-year old daughter, Jennifer, when al Qaeda bombed the London Underground in 2004.
Process of Healing and Finding Closure
Violence seems to be increasing in our world today. When a loved one is lost to senseless violence — and all violence is senseless in my humble opinion — it is easy to become filled with anger, rage, obsession with thoughts of revenge, and difficult to find closure.
Closure is difficult even when a loved one dies of natural causes in a peaceful manner. When that loved one is taken away suddenly and viciously, coming to terms with the loss can become nearly impossible. Yet, the four individuals featured. in Lunn’s Forgiveness: Stories of Our Time have managed to forgive those who wronged them and moved forward with their lives.
The fact that they forgave doesn’t mean these people have forgotten their loved ones; instead they honor them by living their lives as fully as possible without animosity and hatred after forgiving those who took their loved ones so tragically.
The scenes depicted in Forgiveness are sometimes a bit upsetting but not so graphic as to cause squeamishness — unlike so many of today’s feature films. The emotions expressed by the real people in Lunn’s work are very real and expressed with a great deal of dignity and strength. We can all learn about dealing with loss with understanding and compassion from watching this video.
Moving Through the Stages to Forgiveness
Forgiveness: Stories of Our Time focuses on violent, sudden losses. But any loss of a loved one requires forgiveness. When a dearly loved friend or family member passes away, we often feel anger toward God, or the universe, even toward the doctors and nurses who failed to perform miracles, and very often a great deal of anger is focused toward the person who left us through no control of their own.
This is a normal part of grief but knowing that makes it no easier to pass through this difficult time. Lunn’s documentary can help others who have lived through the loss of a loved one. This deep and rich film can help those experiencing these feelings of loss, grief, and abandonment.
Even a person who has never experienced a loss through death certainly has the need to learn to forgive in order to live a serene, happy life. If the subjects featured in Forgiveness can truly forgive those who have taken their loved ones, it becomes much easier to contemplate forgiving minor wrongs which may have been festering inside us into hate and animosity.
If you have experienced the loss of a loved one, whether expected or sudden, or know someone who has, this documentary from Alive Mind Media will provide a great deal of comfort in letting the person know that there is life after the loss. The exceptional cinematography creates magnificent scenes helping create sensitive settings for the subject matter.
Editor Michael Greenwood, Sound Recordists Alex Salter and Harvey Hyslop, as well as Producers Kent Martin along with Johanna Lunn deserve accolades for their work on this emotional, moving documentary, Forgiveness: Stories of Our Time. This is truly a documentary for our time and our world today.
To learn more, visit > Forgiveness: Stories of Our Time
Watch Movie Trailer
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvOuHefsB24&w=570&h=461]
To learn more, visit > Forgiveness: Stories of Our Time
