Special Critique: Searching for Angela Shelton, Pg.
2
As
Angela begins her journey across the country, a pattern
unfolds with the other Angela Sheltons she interviews; from
California to Washington State to Kentucky to Florida, many
of the women who were hurt and violated were victimized
by the very people they should have been able to trust.
Not all of the women she interviewed were mistreated; however,
far more were hurt by such travesties than could easily
be explained away. Because of Angela's own past hurts, she
didn't shy away from asking other Angelas about their past,
confessing her own tragedies in order to show them that
they are not alone.
The
section of this film that probably tore my heart out the
most was one Angela-whom the filmmaker dubbed 'Anonymous
Angela Shelton'-who wouldn't agree to be in the film, but
allowed the filmmaker to tape her voice. For much of the
journey, the filmmaker would call up Anonymous Angela on
her cell phone and talk to her, hoping to be allowed to
meet her and help her.
In
one of these conversations, Anonymous Angela sobbed, "I'm
nobody. I'm nothing. I'm lower than a f***ing dog…
I was abused." After finally admitting the type of
abuse she suffered, she lapses into sobbing and hangs up.
Later,
Anonymous Angela admits that her self hatred is due to what
her father used to do and say to her, that she hides perpetually
in alcohol to try to dull the pain. She confesses later,
"The only power I have is alcohol. I wish I could be
what I am when I'm drinking."
While
there are moments of incapacitation in some of the Angelas,
the movie never dwells on being shackled to the past. Instead,
it focuses on pressing forward into the future and growing
stronger after tragedy.
As
Angela meets other women
who have survived...
...her
faith and determination
is renewed and strengthened.
Eventually,
this strength is owned up to by the filmmaker when she decides
to confront her father on Father's Day. While her father
claims not to remember anything he did to her, what he actually
admits to will turn your stomach. For example, when confronted
about the molestation he performed on both Angela and her
younger sister, he said, "I don't remember you being
there, Angela. I just remember your sister."
After
awhile , her father falls into deluded ramblings and inane
allegations that Angela's stepbrother must have orchestrated
all of her molestation and that her memory is flawed. The
only thing that makes this sequence bearable is the look
of utter incredulousness Angela directs at the camera while
he rambles on and how she deftly edits in refuting accounts
from her brother, sister, mother, and grandmother.
Christians
who watch the film will be nauseated by the fact that the
conversation between Angela and her father is eventually
cut off because he "has to go to church". That
anyone could even claim to be a Christian while desecrating
children defies belief.
I
will confess that, as a man who has always treated women
with respect and kindness, there were parts of this film
that were hard for me to take. There was definitely a part
of me that wanted to go out and kill the so-called "men"
that would ever do this sort of thing to a woman, especially
when it was revealed that not one of the men who abused
these 25 Angela Sheltons has ever gone to jail.
Despite
so much darkness that is shown, the film concentrates on
the hope, faith, and strength that is available to all of
us. The filmmaker shows that we can only overcome the hidden
darkness by bringing it forth into the light and guarding
against it as a people. In the end, she shows how each of
these women has survived and moved on with their lives in
an incredible way.
Because
this is a critique, I do need to mention the one thing that
should have been edited out of the fim. The ending credits
show the continuing story of both the film's creator and
the other Angelas she's come across. Because these are so
interesting, you feel compelled to watch through to the
end. However, at the very end, there's a strange sequence
that seems like it should have been an outtake or a blooper
in a Kevin Smith movie. In it we see the filmmaker wake
up in her RV's bed on father's day (presumably the one she
went to see her father on), then she proceeds to sit up,
lean over a stuffed dolphin she has on her bed, and passes
gas on it. After she's done with this bizarre ritual, she
dedicates the flatulance to her dad. While Angela may have
been trying to show some humor at how she's able to get
past the hurt from her past, the sequence seems terribly
out of place--like a sex joke at a funeral--and, because
this is the last thing you see before the film ends, it
sticks out in your mind all the more.
Other
than that small compalint, the film is amazing and definitely
deserves to be watched by virtually everyone in our society.
