Obsolete by life

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Movie
German title Obsolete by life
Original title Life Overtakes Me
Country of production United States , Sweden
original language English
Publishing year 2019
length 39 minutes
Rod
Director John Haptas ,
Kristine Samuelson
production John Haptas
camera John Haptas
cut John Haptas,
Kristine Samuelson
occupation
  • Henry Ascher himself: pediatrician and professor at the University of Gothenburg
  • Nadja Hatem herself: lawyer for immigration issues
  • Mikael Billing himself: psychologist and psychotherapist in a
    psychiatric clinic
  • Karl Sallin himself: from the Center for Research Ethics and Bioethics,
    Uppsala University
  • Elisabeth Hultcrantz herself: professor emeritus at Linköping University
  • Gellert Tamas himself: writer and journalist
  • Anne-Liis von Knorring herself: child psychologist, professor emeritus at Uppsala University

Overtaken by life (AKA Life Overtakes Me ) is an American documentary - short film by John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson from the year of 2019.

content

The film reports on a phenomenon that was first observed in refugee children in Sweden in the early 2000s. Hundreds of children who have fled their homeland with their families seek refuge in a coma-like illness, a so-called uppgivenhosis syndrome or resignation syndrome, when the insecurity that lies over their lives gets out of hand. This catatonic state can last for months or even years. If stability returns to the family, there is justified hope that the children will “return” too.

The film follows three of the 400 children living with their families in Sweden who have the syndrome. Haptas and Samuelson try to convey how great the pain is for parents when they see that their children are frozen in time. The children affected and their families come from violent and war-torn countries and, together with their families, are threatened with deportation. This latent danger and the traumatic events of the past caused the children to stop eating, walking, and talking, and slipped into coma-like sleep. The puzzling symptom occurs mainly in children from Kosovo , Serbia , Azerbaijan , Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan .

Samuelson and Haptas follow how the families of the affected children deal with this situation and what strain they now have to carry on, although the flight from their home has already demanded a lot from them.

production

Production notes

The film was shot in Sweden.

publication

On April 7, 2019 the film was presented at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in the USA and on May 19, 2019 at the Critics Film Festival in Chicago. In the same year the film was available on the Internet in the following countries: Argentina, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Singapore, USA. It was also published in Brazil, Greece and Poland. In Germany it is available in the Netflix program .

reception

criticism

Cammy Madden of MovieBabble's attitude towards the film was largely negative. Kristine Samuelson and John Haptas are not known names, but both have in a way proven their skills. There are incredible footage of Sweden, but they don't really know how to make an informative documentary. If the only purpose of this documentary was to raise awareness of the disease, then it would have succeeded. However, as far as the information conveyed is concerned, the film fails. Overall, Life Overtakes Me is an example of a missed opportunity. The film offers almost no information about the little-known disease.

Daniel Hart of Ready Steady Cut gave the film four stars out of five and summarized his rating in the following sentence: The Netflix documentary Life Overtakes Me humbly reveals tragic circumstances that should not happen to any child.

Greg Wheeler did the film on The Rev | Ew Geek and chose the headline Heartbreaking . Following the documentation is difficult. Sometimes the film seems unusually bloated. There are numerous forest shots, snowy landscapes and some scenes that are a little too long. Nonetheless, the film is well suited to raising awareness of a condition that most people hadn't known about before, which at times leads to quite heartbreaking viewing. The documentary shuttled back and forth between the messages in its sections, which was a little too political with regard to the families concerned and didn't feel as if one felt sincere with them. However, the documentary shows very well the daily struggle of families.

Awards

  • Chicago Critics Film Festival 2019:
    Audience Award for John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson in the category "Best Documentary"
  • Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2019:
    Audience Award for John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson in the category "Best Short Film"
  • Sundance Film Festival 2019:
    Grand Jury Prize for John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson in the "Short Film" category
  • Academy Awards 2020 :
    Nomination for John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson in the category "Best Documentary Short Film"

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cammy Madden: Film Review - Life Overtakes Me (2019) see page moviebabblereviews.com (English). Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  2. ↑ Daniel Hart: Life Overtakes Me Review: No Child Deserves This see page readysteadycut.com (English). Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  3. ^ Greg Wheeler: Life Overtakes Me - Netflix Short Documentary Review see page thereviewgeek.com (English). Retrieved January 17, 2020.