As Doug’s sister I’ve watched with awe and envy as he flits from festival to festival with 51 Birch Street. Who would have believed that the story of a middle-class, suburban, 50’s family would touch so many people? I’ve shown the film to some of my friends and colleagues, most of whom are therapists or psychologists of one kind or another. Their responses have astounded me; they are so moved by the story, and so drawn in by the events described. One friend whose opinion I greatly value told me that she envied me my parents because they were so articulate and insightful. I tried to explain that the parents she saw in the film are not the parents I grew up with. My parents were not articulate, and they definitely kept their insights, and their emotions, to themselves. I know they deliberately chose to keep so much of their inner selves hidden, because in my family it was just too dangerous to risk talking about feelings. But I don’t believe I really knew before I saw this film just how much lay below the surface. It has been a somewhat painful experience to watch this film and to know that so many people who are strangers to me are now privy to some of my family members most intimate thoughts and private behavior. There are two big compensations though; I know my parents better than I did before, especially my mother who I can now see in a much more compassionate light, and the fact that so many people seem to truly be moved by the film to look at their own family relationships and to perhaps change them for the better, knowing that it is never too late.
I’m sure right after a screening, people want to talk about those “intimate thoughts and private behavior” of your family but I have a sneeking suspicion that what most people really think about later is their own family’s private behavior. One of the beautiful things about this as a film is that it resonates on a personal level - we don’t need to dwell on your story, it motivates us to think about our own, alhough I’d bet that sometime someone will recognize you and run up and say something uncouth. But, it takes all kinds, right?
By: Agnes Varnum, on May 24, 2006