directed by:
Thomas Elliott Griffiths written by: Thomas Elliott Griffiths genre: Documentary |
This was a tough assignment, but reviewing "The Little Things" pales compared to the massive hardships you'll see onscreen in this documentary. Writer/Director Thomas Elliott Griffiths spares us no quarter in watching this film about a children's hospice called Derian House, and while that makes this movie pretty tough to take, it's an important story that reminds us about the fragility of life.
There are many things to appreciate about this documentary, and a lot of them come from the interviews you'll see along the way. Brutally honest, raw, and real - you'll likely find many of the people you meet in the film share a lot in common with you as you watch, with the extraordinarily sad exception of the fact that the majority of them have experienced tragedies so extreme, most of us that are viewing "The Little Things" will never quite know the pain they have been through. Right off the bat, as you meet the very first couple of people speaking, they delve into what their own impressions of what the word 'hospice' meant to them before they had used the services offered by Derian House, and how it would send chills down their spines thinking about the parts involved that none of us really want to think about too much. "I'm not going to deny that there is sadness and that there is death here - because there is," one parent will tell you, and she's right. That's the level of honesty you'll find in this film. There is no doubt that "The Little Things" is a very tough movie to watch, and if I'm being real with you, I don't know that there is another way a story like this could have possibly come out. I genuinely believe that Griffiths goes into making this documentary with the best of intentions, to help tell a story that needs to be told and give a voice to the voiceless – and don't get me wrong, he succeeds greatly, but it's perilously sad. Pretty much all the way through, sad, sad, sad, and more sad. After you've watched it in full, you understand that the goal here was to tell the story of the wonderful contribution it makes to the children of Derian House and their families, which again, it does – but it's literally impossible to explain this process and all that it entails without getting into the hardest parts of losing loved ones long before their time. Every subject the film focuses on will crush you in its own unique way – like, if you can watch Ben (Kiera's Dad) cry and not start crying yourself, you're likely made of sheer granite stone. The same goes for Daniella (Arther & Tommy's Mum) and Kiki (Dexter's Mum) – these are devastating, highly personal stories that they share, and there are many more that you'll encounter along the way as you tour through Derian House and learn about the mission they're on to help assist families at their greatest time of need. I'll tell ya right now, from my perspective, the amazing people who work at Derian House, or anywhere in the field of children's hospice for that matter, are saints…every single last one of them. Saints. The purest of hearts on Earth. Through these personal stories you'll see onscreen, you'll find that the true role of hospice is very well explained. While I can promise you that won't make "The Little Things" any easier for you to watch, I do commend Griffiths for finding the right people to help tell this story. You feel the weight of their stories, from the happier days in the beginning as they remember their young children to the excruciating pain they endure as different, highly complex medical conditions ravage their loved ones, and you stay with them all the way through to the healing process that hopefully is able to occur afterwards. In fact, that's one of the strongest points that you'll find is made along the way – "The Little Things" will speak directly to how the healing process might not occur at all - and how that is actually OKAY to feel that way…because each of these people that you see that have lost a child have been through an unbearable pain that is beyond description, creating traumas the likes of which most of us will never know the magnitude of. Anyone out there who thinks there's a simple path to healing after such an awful ordeal is not comprehending just how hard a situation - like losing a child would be. As you listen to Kiki, tell her story of being pregnant and giving birth, discovering how her child was having seizures before he was even born… I'm tellin' ya, it'll tear your heart out to hear how tragic her story is. To think that after she found out about her son's condition, Kiki actually apologizes to the people in the room around her, feeling responsible for not protecting her son's life or delivering a healthy baby… it's so profoundly sad, entirely human, and all-out devastating at the same time. To hear someone like Kiki describe the scenario as "like all the light went out in the world" – it's incredibly heartbreaking because you can tell that she's a remarkably strong woman, and she's been through more than most could bear.
If you're the empathetic type, believe me, you'll want to have your Kleenex handy for this film. You're going to see strong people like Kiki & Ben reach their breaking point, and it will leave you gutted as you watch. It's tough subject matter, to say the least, but a film like "The Little Things" serves to inform the public about services that are out there, why we need them, and the purpose behind them. A lot of what "The Little Things" goes on to reinforce is how affected those left behind are after they've lost a child…and it stresses how much the parents benefit from the services and care of a place like Derian House as well. While the majority of us would assume that children's hospice revolved entirely around the children, "The Little Things" makes it clear that it's just as crucial for the parents and family involved to seek out help as well. In the darkest hours that a family can go through, this is a film that confirms you're never alone and that there are people who specialize in helping you process some of the saddest moments of life & death that anyone could ever have to go through. I applaud every one of the interviewees who agreed to take part in this film and share their stories with all of us watching – you see how monumentally tough it is for them to explain what they went through, no matter how long it has been after the fact. All of these incredible people – people just like you and me – have managed to find their way through the darkness enough to be able to share what they've learned and how they cope. Alright, I've given you an idea of what you're in store for and how difficult it can be to see the pain of these families and hear their stories. Griffiths does his level best to balance the heartbreaking details in "The Little Things" by showing the important role of Derian House and how it has positively affected the lives of people who have been there, even in the face of so much death surrounding them. It is by no means any kind of easy task that Griffiths is up against, and to be honest with ya, I don't know that he was able to completely achieve that goal. The weight of the emotions in a film with a subject like this are essentially impossible to lighten up, and to be even more fair, it wouldn't have been the right way to go about making this documentary anyhow. I feel like Griffiths made the right choice in allowing the families to tell this story in their own way, from their own points of view about their own experiences – and it's because of this that "The Little Things" finds the right gear to explain such heartbreaking stuff. On a technical level, it's shot well and edited nicely - all that is good – but it's Griffiths' willingness to let organic storytelling really lead the way that makes this film work really well. I feel like this is a strong four out of five stars… I'm realistic in understanding this is a topic that not many folks out there would have the stomach to watch, but I'm confident those who do - will fully appreciate it. |
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