Audience Responses
Words that stayed with us after the screening.
Selected excerpts from messages sent to the filmmaker after viewing the film. Shared anonymously to protect the writers’ privacy. Some responses have been translated from Hebrew or English.
“A moving, sad, comforting film.”
“You have made a film that is all attentiveness—not only to pain and sadness, but to kind eyes, a broken smile, hearts reaching for one another, solitude and togetherness, yearning, longing, missing those we love.”
“Something happened to me there, and I came away with hope… Thank you for the film.”
“I really think you have shown how to make a film about bereavement, support and hope while maintaining an appropriate distance. That is the film’s great strength—not to mention the editing and the music. Everything truly came together.”
“Your heart was there in the footage, alongside the parents’ hearts. Thank you for your gaze and for this rare glimpse that allowed us to try to understand and to share some of their pain.”
“I didn’t know what to expect, and I was amazed by the finished film: authentic, moving and so important.”
“To bring the viewer into the heart and mind of a bereaved parent is no simple thing.”
“I don’t have enough words to describe this extraordinary experience. It is like sharing deeply intimate, meaningful moments with these people—bereaved parents whose pain we cannot truly understand.”
“I told the friend sitting beside me that there is nothing sadder than two men crying as they hold each other.”
“Thank you for this documentary, and for the insights and the message it gives us. I was moved, and I cried with them and with you.”
“An extraordinary, moving group of people, and a story told in a way that is heartbreaking, yet also hopeful and strengthening. A beautifully layered story that holds it all.”
“What a moving work you have created, reaching deep into the heart and soul! Together, you have created so much light, healing and grace that will continue to resonate in the world.”
“You created a touching, moving, powerful, subtle, real, human film. And in the end, especially with the parents onstage, a very optimistic feeling.”
“Thank you and Bravo for all the love and care you have given to our people!”
“This is possible only because those accompanying them on the journey do not judge them or tell them what is right or wrong, or how they are supposed to behave or feel.”
“The openness you reached with them is extraordinary, as is your ability to stay alongside such sensitive, complex situations—to simply stand there and be present.”
“To reach that level of intimacy with people is almost impossible. To listen to them in that way, and for them to speak so openly.”
“You found a way into the most painful place, close to parents who had lost what was dearest to them, and touched their souls with respect, humanity and an open heart. That is not something to take for granted. Not at all.”
“After this film, there were hardly any words left. It left us speechless.”
“You brought us the families’ pain and sadness—which are, in truth, the pain of an entire country.”