FIRST THINGS: On the Square » Blog Archive » The Human Experience

re: Amanda Shaw: "...But even a truism—especially a truism—can give pause when coming from the mouth of a leper patient, a homeless woman, an HIV/AIDS victim. The physically, mentally, and spiritually battered—from the concrete jungle of Brooklyn to the mud huts of Ghana—don’t rattle off these sentiments in a spirit of blasé piety or feel-goodism. “If he wakes me up today, God has something he wants me to do,” says a man dying from AIDS, and, while his legs barely support his body, strength of spirit radiates through his eyes. It pierces the audience, which is precisely the goal of Grassroots Film’s latest documentary, The Human Experience. /...[snip]... / In The Human Experience (to be released sometime in 2008), we’re brought to the images and sounds of the cardboard-box communities of some of New York’s homeless, to a home for disabled and abused children in Peru, to a leper colony in Africa—places that everyone knows exist, but few will ever encounter closely and personally. / ...[snip]... / These experiences can be heartwarming and even humorous..."...