Facing Fear (2013) User Reviews

If I were a gambling man (and I'm not), I'd bet on this one winning.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 1 February 2014]

Today I made my annual pilgrimage to the local theater to see all the Oscar-nominated Documentary Shorts. My good friend came with me and force once we were in agreement as to which shorts were strongest and weakest--which is a little unusual.

This film is pretty straight-forward in style and direction. It's the story of a young homeless gay man who is beaten nearly to death by a gang of thug skinheads. Years later, when the beaten man begins working for a center stressing tolerance, he meets up with an ex-skinhead who also works there to try to keep young people from following in his angry teenage steps. Interestingly, it turned out that this reformed punk was one of the men that nearly killed the gay teen years earlier! Their working through this together, redemption and learning to forgive and understand it the theme of this film.

I think "Facing Fear" would have been a great film had it come out in the 1980s (and probably would have deserved the Oscar). After all, folks had much more negative feelings towards homosexuals then and films were still hesitant to discuss this bigotry. However, in 2013, this is NOT so brave or groundbreaking--it's rather fashionable in some ways. However, the film still is interesting and worth seeing. I liked the film and recommend you see it--and I assume it's the odds-on favorite the award despite being pretty ordinary simply because this is the sort of topic that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences seems to like based on past nominees and awards. This isn't meant to be ant-anything on my part--just an observation. Is it the best of the films? No--it's probably 3rd or 4th best. But it is good and should be seen. Just understand that it lacks the emotional punch and risk of some of the other nominees, such as "Karama Has No Walls", or the professional look and artistry of "The Lady in Number 6".

Very interesting film on the genuine possibility and power of forgiveness

[deadbull-95171 · 8/10 · 4 June 2021]

A brief documentary that makes its point simply and powerfully. Two very different men collide, an innocent and a violent perpetrator. The ensuing beating is impersonal, random, and hate-driven.

The main attacker, it was 14 against 1, delivered what he felt was the final death blow.

And this is where it gets strange. The violent guy, a neo-Nazi skinhead, feels an increasing sense of remorse and sorrow and guilt and pointlessness that keeps eating at him.

25 years pass and the two men meet at a museum dedicated to tolerance.

They recognize each other quickly.

I have delivered enough spoilers, but the point is they gradually open up to each other, begin giving lectures together, and finally become real friends.

So both guys go through radical transformation. It's hard to know who had a harder time, It would seem on the face of it the victim. Not only was he seriously injured, but he was the one in a position to forgive something apparently unforgivable.

But then, the other fellow had the task of forgiving himself, and to face up to what he had done to the man who unbeknownst to him, had actually survived. And what does it take inside, to truly burn off the violence inside oneself.

In the end , both guys become sympathetic humans, and both can be seen as victims, products of outside and inside forces that shaped them before they gained the insights that sometimes come with maturity.

It's strong medicine. They each dedicated themselves to the deepest kind of soul searching and achieved something amazingly rare, forgiveness, friendship, very deep knowledge, and probably a sort of love for each other.

It shows what can be done if you ignite the deepest level of humanity we all carry, at least I think it comes built into all of us. If a pair like this can achieve so high a state, it speaks well for hope in human potential for everybody. Idealism can become a deep reality if you devote yourself to the practice of compassion. Very Buddhist, Mahayana school if i remember, but I have never seen clearer proof in the 'western world' more eloquent then this valuable little gem of a documentary.

Wow...what an amazing story of the power of the human spirit

[awilife43 · 10/10 · 4 January 2022]

Wow. This was truly a remarkable story of how two youth's lives so seemingly opposed to each other, crossing paths in one of the most horrific ways and yet God allows them both an opportunity for redemptiom- through genuine forgiveness. I praise God for giving these two now grown men the opportunity to see the best and worst of humans in their lifetime. It brings joy and warmth to my heart to see these two amazing men of Valor reconcile a d teaching others to do the same. For it is my belief that we are more alike than different. If only we are courageous enough to stop, listen and connect on a real level with those we see as different from us. Try it, you might be surprise.