Fierce Goodbye

Starring:Judy Collins
Studio: Vision Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Over four million people a year in the U.S. mourn the tragic suicide deaths of family members. Suicide devastates family members for many years; family survivors are at a greater risk of suicide themselves and the pain ripples out to entire communities. In this video, family survivors reveal their intimate stories and aching pain to assist other survivors and to help the broader community understand the unique and terrible grief of suicide.

Religious communities experience particular pain because of faith issues. This documentary explores Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Greek Orthodox responses to suicide. The church can be a "healing station" in helping survivors find their way to recovery.

Hosted by legendary folksinger Judy Collins. The key mental health expert is Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University.

Description

Over four million people a year in the U.S. mourn the tragic suicide deaths of family members. Suicide devastates family members for many years; family survivors are at a greater risk of suicide themselves and the pain ripples out to entire communities. In this video, family survivors reveal their intimate stories and aching pain to assist other survivors and to help the broader community understand the unique and terrible grief of suicide.

Hosted by legendary folksinger Judy Collins. The key mental health expert is Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University.

Customer Reviews:

Very disappointing.......2007-06-06

As someone who lost a sibling to suicide, I was hoping for much more from this documentary. For one thing, it would have been good if Judy Collins, the host, had said something about her own experience in losing a child and how it affected her. And Kay Redfield Jamison appeared for about a total of two minutes. While the interviews with victims' relatives were helpful, much of this film seemed very "religion-oriented" and that if people just "keep the faith" then they'll get through it all. While I'm sure it is helpful for many in this situation to go to church and get support from their friends, it would have been better to focus on how the severe depression which can lead to suicide is often a chemical imbalance in the mind and can be treated medically. It seemed like very few of those interviewed had any idea of this, which points to the stigma depression still holds in our society and how many people still believe (including my own father) that depression is something one should be ashamed of and that a depressed person should "just snap out of it and stop feeling sorry for yourself!" I was very disappointed in how little this film went into the possible causes of suicide and depression and that it mainly concentrated on how survivors should try to find god.

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