All the Empty Rooms

CinemaSerf

I was quite anxious about watching this short feature, uncertain about what I thought might be an almost pruriently macabre job for correspondent Steve Hartman. He is usually the amiable news reporter associated with the more light-hearted "and, finally..." item at the end of a bulletin, but now with his photographer friend Lou Bopp he has embarked on a project to photograph the bedrooms of all of the children slain by gun crime at school. The number of victims has almost quadrupled in recent years, but with only a couple left to do we follow them to the Blackwell, Scruggs and Cazares families where we sit down with their parents and watch some of their home videos and reminisce about their talented and mischievous children before entering bedrooms that in many ways are shrines, untouched since the fatefal days that robbed their parents and siblings of Dominic, Hallie and Jackie (amongst others). It's all fairly heart-rending stuff and with only a limited narration to keep us informed, it proves to be a remarkably natural - even cathartic - thing for both the two men and for the affected families who show an astonishing resilience when talking about the loss of their very young children whilst ostensibly safe at school. It's very humanity is what makes it a tough watch; the fact that these are real people with real lives still to lead and other children to care for is writ gently, but largely, and this is a poignantly affecting half hour of uncomfortable but ultimately quite celebratory filmmaking.