Praying For Lior (2007/First Run Features DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C
When you
read that many believe a young man with Down Syndrome is “close to God”, the
red alert goes immediately into effect.
In Ilana Trachtman’s Praying For
Lior (2007), we get a documentary on just that. The subject has been afflicted since
childhood with the condition, yet others still have issues with his
condition. It is quite the disturbing
situation to document, but here it is.
at 87 minutes, it runs on longer than I expected, does not resolve some
key issues and may actually have made the situation more disturbing on some
levels than when it started. That calls
for a separate essay, but as the work stands, it leaves too much undealt with
and if it were shifted the wrong way, would be an exploitive work.
The letterboxed
1.78 X 1 image is very soft, likely from low def digital video, though editing
is at least decent. The Dolby Digital
2.0 sound is simple stereo, but know there are some location recording
limits. Extras include resources, text
filmmaker bio, bonus scenes and deleted scenes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
